


Chin Up (Or The Crown Falls)

by Shiniko1898



Series: A Broken Crown Still Shines [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Action, Action/Adventure, Angst, Canon Divergence, F/M, Humor, OC is a bit feral, Reincarnation, SI/OC, Self-Insert, and pointy teeth, she still got swords
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-24
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:20:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 25
Words: 46,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26625856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shiniko1898/pseuds/Shiniko1898
Summary: Sequel to You got the Crown (Don’t Give It up)If Katsumi had her way, she’d spend all day in an onsen, but since she doesn’t, everyone gets to deal with her, her swords and her long suffering Sensei.
Series: A Broken Crown Still Shines [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1920322
Comments: 343
Kudos: 598





	1. Chapter 1

“Now, my cute little apprentice, you will be trying to find my cute little Kohai here, while his apprentice tries to catch you.” Katsumi thinks Sensei looks far too happy as he tells her this. 

Sakura is standing beside her with a slight smile curving her lips. Katsumi is slowly learning that means the pink haired girl is about to make her life hell. Yamato looks a bit put out at having to be the one playing what is essentially shinobi hide and seek. 

“Oh, I almost forgot, no improved hearing. That’s cheating.” The eye smile increases and Katsumi is certain he’s going to enjoy watching this. 

Katsumi understands why no hearing. They’re working on improving her ability to track by smell. And chasing Yamato through the woods is about as difficult a task as it gets. The man smells almost exactly like the woods. Even with the metal and blood scent all shinobi carry, his scent blends stupidly well into the forest around them. Katsumi isn’t sure if Sensei actually thinks she can do this or if he’s just going to have her do this until she’s able to. 

Katsumi sighs and increases the flow of chakra to her nostrils as Yamato disappears into the training ground. In the two months since becoming Sensei’s official apprentice, it’s become far easier to sift through all the different smells in the air, easier to focus on some and disregard others. It’s still a lot, but far less overwhelming than before. Katsumi forces herself to ignore the the faint ozone smell that she’s started to pick up on Sensei and the even fainter smell of roses that Sakura gives off. 

“Well, Katsumi-chan? Go.”

Katsumi barely manages to dodge the wood suddenly reaching up out of the ground as soon at Sensei finishes speaking. So Sakura isn’t going to give her any time today. Alright then. 

Katsumi flits through the trees trying to find Yamato will also avoiding Sakura’s extremely enthusiastic attempts at stopping her. Katsumi never realized until Kakashi-sensei banned her from using her hearing just how hard it actually is to track. Especially under the circumstances Sensei likes to put her in. As soon as Katsumi thinks she’s found Yamato’s trail she’s being forced away from it by Sakura. Who’s laughing. Loudly. 

Since Kakashi-sensei decided to start having weekly joint training with the mokuton pair, Katsumi has learned the blank, seriousness Sakura usually projects is only a mask. Strictly for missions and dealing with clients and superiors. The girl is much more animated in more relaxed settings. More like the girl she remembers from the academy. She’d appreciate it more if she didn’t have to be constantly trying to avoid being slammed into a tree by her wood release, though. Sakura is a gleefully sadistic training partner. 

Katsumi stifles a curse as she’s forced off the trail again. Sakura is definitely enjoying this. Katsumi is having to sprint through the tree branches to avoid Sakura, and more than once that results in her loosing the trail altogether and having to double back to find it again. Which tends to result in Sakura wholeheartedly trying to fling her into the air like a rag doll. 

The scent is getting stronger at least so she knows she’s on the right track. Katsumi bares her teeth mockingly in Sakura’s general direction. She’s close and Sakura hasn’t managed to wreck her yet. That’s progress. 

Katsumi iscertain she’s about to catch Yamato when Sakura’s wood release forms a wall in front of her and she has to pull up short unless she wants to slam straight into it. That sudden stop is her downfall, before she can mentally regroup she’s being knocked out of the tree unceremoniously. She twists wildly in the air and uses her chakra to soften the landing. Before she can take back off again a wooden dome is around her reminiscent of the one Sakura used to protect her and the coffin against the Oto nin. Damn. Katsumi hates being in caught like this. It fills her with anxiety now. 

Katsumi doesn’t need chakra enhanced hearing to make out Sakura’s shout of triumph. The wood disappears back into the ground and Katsumi sighs in relief when she’s free again. Sakura is standing beside Yamato, a wide, satisfies smile on her face. Kakashi-Sensei is reading his porn again but he gives a satisfied hum and says, “maa, Katsumi-Chan, you made it twenty minutes this time. Better. And you were only fifty meters away from my kohai.”

“Good job, Sakura, you’re getting much faster with your wood release.” Yamato gives Sakura a pleased smile, Katsumi is still mildly unnerved by him since the first day she met him and made the mistake of complaining about the training exercise. He’s far scarier than he looks. She sees why Sakura dropped the fangirl stuff with him as a sensei.

“Katsumi-chan, after training, would you like to join Ino and I at the onsen?” Sakura smiles as she offers, lately the pair had reconciled at were once again joined at the hip. It’s a development Katsumi approves of greatly. 

“Of course, Sakura-Chan,” Katsumi has been making an effort lately to find time to do things unrelated to training and work. Yoshino has been not so subtly implying she needs to. Katsumi hates disappointing the woman so she’s trying. She went to the dango shop with Anko-San the other day and they discussed the pros and cons of hallucinogenic poisons. She thinks that counts. It’s not like she uses hallucinogenic poisons. 

Kakashi-Sensei eye smiles at the small display of camaraderie before he continues, “Katsumi-Chan, if you’ve had enough running through the training grounds with Sakura-Chan, I have a jutsu I’m going to teach you. Since Hayase already taught you to make your own pools of water, I’ll be teaching you something a bit more advanced.”

Katsumi’s attention is immediately focused on her sensei. She hardly notices when Yamato and Sakura move to the other half of the training ground to focus on their own training. Sensei has been promising her a new jutsu for over a month now. 

Katsumi eagerly follows Kakashi-Sensei to the pool of water in the back of the training ground. 

“This is a long range jutsu, and it’s going to take probably a quarter of your reserves. So be prepared for the exhaustion after this. I want you to try it three times today and we’ll see how you do. I stole this off a Ninja I came across a long time ago. It’s called suiton style: mouth of the serpent. It’s handseals are: monkey, Rat, Tiger, dragon, horse, dragon. Watch carefully.”

Katsumi keeps a safe distance as Sensei flips through the handseals. A giant spiral of water twists up out of the pool at takes the shape of a snake. Wow. That looks far more difficult than anything she’s learned. She watches as he aims it at a nearby trees and releases it. It’s startling, the force of it hitting the tree. She watches the water uproot the tree and wash it over thirty meters away. Well, damn. That’s impressive. 

“We’ll be working on this after your tracking exercises from now on. You need more long range jutsu, it’ll keep you a bit safer. Now you’re going to have to use your Chakra to manipulate not just the shape of the water, but also it’s direction and force. You’ve done this on a very small, basic scale with your water shrapnel, but this is going to require a lot more concentration. I expect you to take three weeks of work to get it. You’re going to be exhausted from it but that’s fine. It will help your chakra reserves increase. So three times, and then we’ll work on something else.”

Katsumi eyes Sensei and then the pool of water with trepidation. Right, well here goes nothing. Katsumi gathers her chakra and begins. 

Monkey. Rat. Tiger. Dragon. Horse. Dragon. 

Sensei wasn’t exaggerating the amount of chakra used. He also wasn’t exaggerating the difficulty. She gets a pitiful stream of sluggishly spinning water rising up maybe a meter out of the water and she can’t even direct it. Damn. 

“Maa, try again.”

Monkey. Rat. Tiger. Dragon. Horse. Dragon.

This time it’s a bit wider and it spins a bit faster and if she squints it almost looks like a snake’s head at the top. It’s still pitiful compared to Sensei’s though. Katsumi has only tried twice and she’s already shaking a bit from the sheer chakra usage. 

“One more time.”

Right.

Monkey. Rat. Tiger. Dragon. Horse. Dragon.

Katsumi manages to get a very long, very skinny tentacle looking thing that she can sort of direct but when she releases it, it ends up falling straight back down. Katsumi is actually sweating now and she feels a bit dizzy. Wow, Sensei wasn’t exaggerating how difficult just three attempts would be. She kind of just wants to go lie down for awhile. 

“Maa, Katsumi-Chan, Good first attempts. Do some stretches. And we’ll work on your Taijutsu while we wait for Yamato and Sakura to finish. If you can beat me in a spar, I’ll give you the day off tomorrow.” 

Katsumi shoots him a dirty look as she begins her stretches. With as little energy as she has left, and with him being _Hatake Kakashi_ , they both know she has no chance of winning any kind of spar against him anytime soon. 

Still, she tries. He still pulls his punches with her, but when she does it, she’s admonished immediately. The entire spar is him beating her soundly while explaining to her in a bored tone what she’s doing wrong. 

Kick to the left side. “You’re guarding your right side more. It leaves you open.”

Punch to the right shoulder that nearly makes her yelp at the phantom pain in the spot she was stabbed. “You could have blocked that if your elbow was a bit closer to you.”

Katsumi ends up in a hold that she knows would snap her neck if he applied a little bit more pressure. “Think, Katsumi-Chan, how do you break this hold?”

It takes her a moment but she manages togo through the motions that would break it. She’s under no illusions that it only worked because he allowed it too. It’s Sensei’s sparring equivalent of positive reinforcement. 

Eventually she ends up pinned to the ground on her stomach, one arm pulled behind her, and Sensei’s knee pressing down on her spin.

“Maa, you need to work on avoiding getting caught and breaking holds. We’ll work on that next time. I believe Sakura and Yamato are done.”

Sensei releases her and pulls her to her feet as the others approach. Katsumi exhausted. When sensei told her being his apprentice would be a lot harder, he wasn’t exaggerating in the least. At least the training sessions are a bit more varied now. It’s like he’s trying to pour every drop of skill he can into her. 

Sakura looks just as exhausted as Katsumi does. Yamato is possibly a harsher taskmaster than Kakashi-Sensei. 

“Katsumi, onsen, right now.” Sakura grabs her wrist and practically drags her away. The pair yell goodbyes to their sensei before either can decide they need more work for today. 

Ino is already there when they arrive, and is sitting low enough that the water comes up to her chin, her head tilted back against the edge of the bath. She looks like Asuma went easy on her team today. Lucky bitch. 

“Sakura, you’re late! But you brought katsumi so I suppose I can tolerate it.” Ino grins at them as they join her. 

“Yamato-sensei and Kakashi have been driving us into the ground lately, blame them.” Sakura says with a happy sigh at the feel of the hot water on her muscles. 

Katsumi is immediately in heaven when she gets in. Her muscles have been screaming in pain lately from all the work Sensei has her doing and the hot water feels like heaven. She was already happy because water, but hot water is even better. Katsumi doesn’t even care about the conversation. She just wants to enjoy the hot spring. Katsumi lets her head tilt back like Ino’s and her eyes slide shut and listens to the pair with half an ear. Yoshino-San may be onto something with the whole “do things for enjoyment” thing. 


	2. Chapter 2

The first time she’s requested for a mission, by someone other than Kakashi-Sensei, Katsumi is legitimately surprised. It’s a C-rank escort mission that doubles as a B-rank assassination mission apparently. Apparently they need to escort a Noble and his family to the Daimyo’s court and while there complete a different mission in which they kill a group of minor nobles who’ve been trading information with Iwa and Kumo. Katsumi can appreciate the efficiency of knocking out two missions at once, but privately she wonders why she’s been requested. When she arrives at the gates and sees the squad leader, she gets it. Genma-San must have thought she’d be useful for this. Somehow. 

The other members of the squad are Izumo and Kotetsu. Katsumi has met them in passing. She’s well aware where one is the other is nearby. She knows Genma is an assassination specialist and that they tend towards guarding and escort missions so Katsumi knows why each of them was chosen for the mission, but why she’s here is an utter mystery.

When she asks Genma-San, he just grins and shows her a bingo book that’s definitely not Konoha-issued. Tells her to flip to page thirty-three. Oh. Katsumi is startled to see a picture of her crouched down in a tree looking off at something out of the frame, her lips peeled back over her teeth and eyes shadowed. She wonders who took that picture of her. It makes her look mean. It’s definitely from one of the harder C-ranks she’s taken with Kakashi-Sensei since her promotion. 

She reads it over quickly. The report is small. Mentions her use of mist and her Kenjutsu. Mentions she has an estimated kill count of sixty. A C-rank threat apparently. Katsumi is mildly annoyed that they estimated her age as ten. She knows she’s short, but she’s not that small anymore. They don’t have her name though. Instead she’s got herself a nickname, The Hellhound of Konoha. 

“So I’m in the Bingo book? As a C-rank threat, I still don’t see the point of requesting me?”

Genma-San rolls his eyes as he takes the bingo book back, “kid, what’s the use of a hellhound that’s not put to work? You’re gonna be helping me with the second part of the mission while playing cute, harmless puppy around the Nobles we’re escorting.”

“Cute, harmless puppy?” Katsumi raises an eyebrow at that. 

“Exactly, the client has kids with him and a real nervous wife. Having a cute, little kidwho likes to play with swords with us will put the wife at ease and make her cooperate more with us. unless something goes wrong while we’re escorting them, there’s no reason for you to come across as anything else. Besides those ears of yours will be damn useful.”

Katsumi supposes she can live with that explanation. She’s been wanting more interesting missions lately. The ones Sensei has been picking for them lately have been short and easy, hardly worth paying attention while on them. Barely harder than a D-rank really. 

The Noble family arrives to the gate late, in a fancy looking carriage that’s probably worth more than Katsumi’s entire life. Katsumi eyes it and all she can see is a giant flashing sign telling every bandit ever that they should attack these people. 

No wonder they paid for a team consisting of only Chuunin and a Jounin. She would too if she was dumb enough to travel like that. 

The Noble, a man called Nakamura Kenji, is a pompous, overweight man that’s dressed in a ridiculously fancy Yukata that Katsumi can think of at least ten different ways to kill him with off the top of her head. He takes one look at her and she can read the disdain on his face. 

He turns to Genma without saying a word to her, and asks, or rather demands, “Why is there a child, a girl at that, here? When I paid for an escort I meant I wanted an escort that would be worth something.”

Izumo immediately places a hand on her shoulder and she knows he’s warning her not to snap at the man. Katsumi can barely keep from baring her teeth at the man. She’s a Chuunin, a Kunoichi of Konoha. How dare this man look down on her.

Genma doesn’t even bat an eyelash at the man, just clicks his senbon once and replies calmly, “Ishihara is more than capable of handling this mission, I assure you, she’s worth every ryo you paid. We chose her specifically because she looks harmless. It’s better for us if people think she’s harmless. It makes it easier for her to neutralize a threat.”

Nakamura doesn’t look anymore impressed by her, but doesn’t continue insulting her after that. Katsumi takes a position on the opposite side of the carriage than his. The less they have to interact, the better. His wife is sitting in the carriage with their toddler son in her lap. If she remembers correctly their names are Ichika and Fuji, respectively. The daughter, Fumiko, is sitting across from her mother and keeps sneaking glances at Katsumi. 

They head out on the road leading out of the village at a snails pace. This is why Katsumi doesn’t like escort missions. Civilians move so slowly. A trip that would take three days at a speed a genin could manage, ends up taking a week. At this rate she’ll still be able to see the village when they stop for the night so the clients can rest. 

Katsumi passes the time by listening to the area around them, trying to identify what small animals are making what noise. She thinks she hears a squirrel trying to open a nut ten meters to the north, and she’s pretty sure there’s a pair of mice breeding thirteen meters to the southeast. 

Eventually she starts increasing her sense of smell, works on memorizing the scents of her teammates and the clients. Just in case a threat tries to henge into one of them. A scent can’t be henged. It’s a dead giveaway if that happens. Genma has a bit of a bitter herbal smell to him, probably from the poisons he specializes in. Izumo smells like pine sap faintly. It’s an odd smell but memorable. Kotetsu smells mostly like the favored weapons polish most Konoha shinobi use. Katsumi doesn’t like the smell of the clients. It’s strong and makes her nose itch at the perfume smell that covers them. 

Satisfied she’ll remember those smells she releases her chakra from her nose and is relieved when the need to sneeze fades with it. Katsumi returns to listening to the area around her. Kotetsu is good with genjutsu so she figures he’s going to be keeping an eye out for that. Not that she actually expects to deal with anyone who knows genjutsu. 

Katsumi does her best to look like a harmless child. She thinks it’s probably pointless considering the flak jacket and swords strapped to her back, but she tries. She honestly isn’t sure how a nonthreatening child is supposed to act, though. So she settles for keeping her teeth carefully covered as making her eyes look wider than usual. She’s not sure it works. It just makes her feel silly trying to make her eyes look big and curious and innocent. 

They only make it about an eighth of the way before they have to stop for the night. It’s irritating, even Tazuna had moved faster than the Nobles in their fancy carriage. Of course, he’d been terrified of getting assassinated, maybe that contributed. 

Katsumi helps set camp up. Genma is the one to handle setting the traps up around the perimeter, something she’s more used to witnessing Naruto do. Idly, she thinks Genma could learn a thing or two about traps from the blond. Izumo and Kotetsu are working on hunting for dinner and setting up the fire that Nakamura insisted on and Katsumi is left with setting up the tents for both the team and the clients. There’s only two tents for the shinobi. Katsumi assumes she’s crashing with Genma until her watch. 

She finishes setting up the tents before the other Chuunin return and wanders over to Genma who’s settled down into a squat by a tree and scanning the rapidly darkening forest surrounding them. 

When she hears the sound of a kunai hitting a body and a little heartbeat stop, she grins at genma, “They found dinner.”

His dark eyes cut to her and he gives her a lazy smile back, “Good, won’t have to live on ration bars tonight. You can take first watch, two hours then wake me up. Sound good?”

Katsumi nods gratefully, the middle watches are the worst. She can never manage to go back to sleep after one. Genma clearly knows the way to get in her good graces. 

Katsumi watches the two children play. The little girl is brushing the hair of a pretty doll while the toddler seems to be digging a little hole in the ground. Katsumi doesn’t remember doing either of those things as a child and wonders if that’s normal behavior for civilian children. 

Izumo and Kotetsu return after a little while looking extremely pleased with themselves. They managed to kill three rabbits. Katsumi’s mouth waters in anticipation, she never thought she’d like the taste of rabbit, but its so much better than squirrels, and infinitely better than the ration bars that taste like sawdust. 

She’s not expecting the little girl to burst into tears at the sight of a few dead rabbits and isn’t entirely sure what to make of it. It’s just dinner, nothing to be upset over. Fumiko looks old enough to have seen this by now, Katsumi remembers when Tou-San took her camping and taught her how to kill, clean and cook rabbits. This girl is definitely around that age. 

When Izumo has her help skin the rabbits, the crying increases and Katsumi has to decrease her hearing to keep from developing a headache. When she hears a horrified gasp from the wife, Katsumi glances up to check the surroundings but she doesn’t see anything. 

“You can’t honestly expect a child to- to skin that?” The woman looks extremely pale at the thought and Katsumi wonders what else she would expect. She didn’t kill them so she has to help skin them. Division of labor and all that. 

Before Katsumi can open her mouth to explain that’s what she’s expected to do, the rabbit is plucked from her hands and Genma’s saying, “Of course not, Ichika-Sama, Izumo didn’t mean to hand that to her, he just wasn’t paying attention. Katsumi? Why don’t you go keep Ichika-Sama and her children company while we work on food?”

Well. Alright then. “Yes, Genma.”

She shoots him a baffled look as she goes to sit beside Ichika-Sama. The woman still looks a bit pale and is studiously avoiding looking at the rabbits being skinned as she consoles the little girl in her lap but she seems more content now that Katsumi has nothing to do. Now that Katsumi has effectively been banned from helping her teammates, she’s not entirely sure what she’s supposed to do other than listen to the area around them. 

So she settles for observing Ichika-sama. The woman is pretty, in that traditional, delicate way of civilian women. She looks like a light breeze could blow her over and Katsumi can’t see a single callous on her hands. Katsumi can’t imagine her hands ever looking that soft and pretty. They’d blister so easily with all the training she does. She can’t see a single scar on the woman either. Not like the Kunoichi she knows, all of them have at least a few scars, though healing chakra tends to remove a lot of them. Even Ino, the most beautiful girl Katsumi knows isn’t free of scars and callouses. What a dull life this woman must lead. What a safe one. 

When the woman starts petting her hair like she’s a dog, Katsumi can barely suppress the warning growl that bubbles up in her throat. She hates when people she’s not close with touch her. When she looks over at the woman, Ichika-Sama looks pitying. 

“You’re such a cute child, you’d look so much lovelier in a kimono. Your poor mother must be horrified to see you running around looking like this. You’ll never find a good husband if you keep playing at being a ninja.”

Katsumi barely manages to keep from snapping at the woman, anger coursing through her at the comments. She gives the woman a soft, closed mouth smile instead— because she’s supposed to be a toothless, cute puppy apparently— and replies in the sweetest voice she can, “Oh my okaa-San wanted me to be a shinobi, she told my Otou-San that before she died, Ichika-sama.” 

The petting stops and there’s an awkward silence. Katsumi can feel eyes on her and when she glances over, Genma gives her a tiny, approving nod. Guess that was the best way to respond. Or at least in the acceptable range of responses. 

Katsumi can’t wait for the escort portion of the mission to be over. 


	3. Chapter 3

Katsumi quickly comes to regret mentioning to Ichika-Sama that her mother was dead. The Noble woman, seemingly overnight, has taken it upon herself to try and teach Katsumi how to behave like a “proper young lady” and practically glued Katsumi’s hand to hers. For the first time, The academy Kunoichi classes Katsumi had to take come in handy when three days into the trip the woman insists on making her wear a fancy kimono that’s much heavier than it looks and Katsumi resorts to hiding Kunai and senbon needles in it. Genma and the others had been entirely unhelpful and merely laughed at her plight. 

Katsumi is quickly coming to regret whatever lead her to the point in her life where a Noble lady who looks like she’s never seen the sunlight is treating her like her own personal doll. She’s fairly certain Ibiki and Inoichi would be able to successfully use this as a creative form of torture. And she’s still not allowed to behave in any manner that doesn’t fit the cute little girl image. It’s wearing steadily away at her patience. 

Katsumi knows she learned how to sit in the seiza pose, but never had she actually been expected to do so, much less by a campfire in the middle of the woods. It feels inconvenient, like she can’t properly defend herself. There’s a reason shinobi don’t sit like this often. The light pink kimono she’s been forced into doesn’t help the matter. It’s cumbersome and makes Katsumi have to walk differently. More than once, Katsumi wonders if the perimeters of the mission prevent her from screaming at the client. She thinks Kakashi-sensei would be disappointed if she did. Yoshino would certainly be horrified, but Katsumi is starting to wonder if it might be worth it. 

The first time she flashes her teeth at Ichika-Sama, the woman jerks back for a moment before she makes a clicking sound and tells her proper ladies don’t smile so widely, they need to be demure. Katsumi has no idea if that’s true or if the woman would just prefer she doesn’t show her teeth. It takes far more willpower than Katsumi ever realized she possessed not to perpetually growl at the entire family. 

Nakamura Kenji continues giving her condescending looks and makes the snide comment that maybe Ichika-Sama will manage to spin straw into gold after all. More than once she ends up having to carry the little boy or hold the girl’s hand and Katsumi is beginning to suspect she’s become their nanny for the trip. 

Kotetsu and Izumo are utterly useless and just keep reminding her she’s supposed to be unthreatening and that means not snapping at the Nobles. Genma just gives her his lazy smile and tells her she’s going a good job and that she’ll enjoy herself more when they arrive at their destination. Katsumi is holding him to that. It’s such a dull, unpleasant trip that Katsumi actually begins to wish they’d been attacked on the road. Give her a chance to take her frustration out. And hopefully ruin the kimono. 

No such mercy comes however and the trip passes slowly and with Ichika-Sama making subtle comments about how pleased she is to see Katsumi learning to be a lady so quickly and more than once alludes to arranging her a marriage to a “proper” husband. Katsumi privately bemoans not running off after Zabuza and Haku when she had the chance. She bets they don’t take escort missions. 

They arrive in the Daimyo’s city at noon after a week of travel and Katsumi has never been so relieved to say goodbye to a client before. The Ichika-Sama tells her the kimonos she’d been making her wear are hers to keep and that she’d write her about potential husbands in time. Katsumi can feel her eye twitch a little at that. 

Genma just chuckles at her as he leads them away to a little, unassuming inn towards the edge of the crowded city. Katsumi was expecting something more... unpleasant, really. Something no one would bat an eyelash at them for being in. Somewhere they’d be easily forgotten. 

When she asks about it, Genma explains in his patient teaching voice, “Those may have more foot traffic over all, but they’re more likely to tell someone about our presence for less money. The expensive inns are bad because we would stand out more so we would be remembered by their clientele even if the innkeepers probably can’t be bought. This is a happy medium.”

Katsumi supposes that makes sense, though the innkeeper raises an eye when they ask for one room with two beds. She guesses three grown men and a girl who’s dressed up like a porcelain doll probably isn’t a good look. Katsumi’s has worse sleeping arrangements though. 

Naruto’s snoring could actually raise the dead, and Sasuke used to kick in his sleep. Anything is preferable to that. Katsumi forces thoughts of her boys away. Naruto is busy traveling with Jiraiya and Katsumi isn’t even sure she can call Sasuke one of hers anymore. Those thoughts hurt in a cold, aching sort of way. She can’t think of anything really to compare it to. So she tries not to think about it at all. 

As soon as they get in the room, Katsumi is changing back into her own clothes and flak jacket. Modesty is a thing that’s quickly lost in Shinobi and none of her teammates so much as bat an eye at it. It’s normal, a habit that keeps someone from being caught alone by an enemy. A safety measure hard wired into Konoha Shinobi. Stay together on missions whenever possible. It doesn’t change just because they’re in a civilian inn. 

That done she practically bounces over to Genma, more than ready to get started on the second mission. Sensei hasn’t taken her with him on any assassination missions yet. They’re too high ranked for her normally, is his explanation. A-rank assassinations— the only ones Sensei ever seems to go on— are reserved for Jounin and ANBU apparently. So this is new for her. She’s probably inappropriately excited for it considering they have to kill four people for this mission. 

Genma raises an eyebrow at her enthusiasm but doesn’t admonish her for it. He practically helped raise her, he knows she can be a bit aggressive. 

“Don’t get good excited, kid. The next few days will be for intel gathering. We need to figure out the most efficient way of doing this. Izumo and Kotetsu will be handling planning out the exit strategy. You and I will be planning how best to dispatch the targets when it’s time. Got it? I don’t need you jumping the Kunai.”

“Got it, so what all intel do we need to get?” Katsumi tilts her head in curiosity. 

“We need to get a feel for their routines. Where they go. Who they see. When will they probably be alone. Who will be most likely to notice them first after we’re done? Do they have security? If so, how much? Then we have to figure out the best method. Do we poison their evening Sake? Do we cut their throats in their sleep? Snap their necks as they walk down an empty hallway in their home? We need all of that planned out. And we’ll have to work fast, the targets all live separately, so you’re going to be on your own for your target. I need you to be prepared for that. Izumo and Kotetsu aren’t assassination specialists but they’ve done it before. So they’ll be handling two of the targets.” Genma’s voice is dead serious, utterly in his element. Katsumi wasn’t aware so much planning went into killing one person. Interesting. 

“So which target is mine?” First thing Genma told her about assassinations is not to think of or refer to a target by their name. Too personal when you’re planning on making them a corpse. 

“We’ll figure that out once the intel is gathered. I don’t want to have you take the hardest one. I’d like this to go smoothly and sending a rookie assassin alone to take out the hardest target isn’t conducive to that.”

“Yeah, brat. You get which ever one is the most idiot proof.” Izumo teases her from where he’s setting traps around the window. 

Katsumi bares her teeth slightly in mock annoyance, “Pretty sure you need the idiot proofing more than me.”

Kotetsu snorts at that from the edge of the bed closer to the door, “Hasn’t Hatake told you to respect your superiors?”

“Not sure about superiors, but he does encourage me to be nice to the elderly sometimes.” 

That gets her a kunai lobbed in her general direction before Genma regains control of the conversation. Katsumi eagerly turns her attention back to her squad leader. She’s finally going to get to do some proper hunting. 


	4. Chapter 4

Katsumi watches target three for five days. The man is older, with gray beginning to show in his hair. He’s also extremely boring to watch. The target doesn’t seem to have any variation in his routine. He’s awake by six, he eats an hour later, he follows the same path everyday to visit other Nobles and play politics with them. He’s home by five that night and writes letters until he has a later dinner with his wife who drinks three or four glasses of sake, while he has two. Then he goes to bathe and sleep in a separate room from his wife. A dull, clear routine. Something shinobi naturally try to avoid.

There’s minimum security for a noble. Two body guards, neither of which seem to be trained to sense chakra. Not trained samurai then. Or not well trained ones. 

Katsumi ends up watching the servants’ patterns too. They’re less routine. During the day they’re flitting about the target’s house, cleaning and staying out of sight unless the wife calls on them. Katsumi doesn’t like them. They make a point to stay out of sight but know everything that goes on in the residence. In some ways, they’re more alert than the bodyguards. 

Katsumi reports all of this back to Genma, more than ready to figure out a course of action. Kotetsu and Izumo have mapped out the most efficient and discreet ways of getting out of each home and back to the inn. All that’s left is to figure out the actual method of neutralization. Katsumi is of the opinion that either an injected toxin into target three’s neck while he sleeps or cutting his throat or garroting him while he’s writing letters would be the best methods. Maybe poison the Sake if necessary.

Genma is quick to challenge both of those ideas. How will she get past the guards into the target’s room? What poison would be best suited? How long is he actually alone while reading and responding to missives? Is it even possible to infiltrate that room without being noticed? What would give the most time between the elimination of the target and the time the body is found? If the sake is poisoned, won’t we kill the wife too?

Katsumi squints up at him as she mulls that over. The target’s bedroom is towards the middle of the house. So she can’t just slip in through a window. She’d probably have to henge into a servant, but she’d have to risk the servants noticing her. 

The only poisons she has are her anticoagulant and a temporary paralytic, she’d have to borrow a better poison from Genma. Another solution is the Ishihara assassination jutsu. She’s learned the hand seals but hasn’t practiced it. Though theoretically it’s lethal even if done wrong. It just tends to cause an aneurysm or stroke instead of the desired heart attack. Stopping or reversing the flow of blood generally doesn’t end well for the receiver of the jutsu, even if it’s done badly. 

The second option she came up with would be harder. The target’s study has a window, but its normally not completely dark out when he’s there. The guards stay outside the door from what she could tell, but the servants are in and out regularly. Both ideas she had for dispatching the target there would create noise. Would attract too much attention. Neither are viable. 

Izumo and Kotetsu look amused as they listen to her say all of this, but Genma looks intrigued when she mentions the Ishihara jutsu. Katsumi wonders if her father had never shown anyone that jutsu or if he ever even bothered to learn it with the way he ignored their history. 

“Can you preform that jutsu?” Genma’s senbon is perfectly still in his mouth. 

“Theoretically. I know how, but I’ve never tried it. Even if I can’t do it perfectly it’s practically insured to kill someone. It’s more how nasty do you want the death to be, I guess. Do it right, near instant heart failure, do it wrong severe stroke or a brain hemorrhage, depending on where you go wrong.” Katsumi shrugs as she says it. She’s read the Ishihara scrolls enough times now that the thought of that jutsu no longer horrifies her. There are worse ways to go after all. At least those outcomes are all relatively quick, even if they aren’t quite painless. Don’t take much chakra either, just decent control. More than once, she’s wondered if it was originally intended for medics and it just didn’t work out as intended. 

He nods slowly, clearly considering it. Genma looks over at Kotetsu and Izumo, “Well? You two have any opinion on it?”

Izumo shrugs, “It’ll look more natural than a lot of poisons, I suppose, as long as she’s not caught.”

Kotetsu nods his agreement, “No better way to test it, if it fails, she can always just cut his throat and run. Messier, but shit happens.”

Genma seems to agree because he looks back down at her, “Alright, kid. You’re gonna deal with Target three. Memorize the escape route Kotetsu picked for that target, if all goes well you shouldn’t need to deviate.”

Dutifully, Katsumi looks down at the map that’s been marked out. She has her orders now, all that’s left it to do it. Then she can go home.


	5. Chapter 5

It’s decided that Katsumi is going to need to slip into Target Three’s bedroom before he enters it or there won’t be a way in passed the guards without having to kill them. Something they want to avoid if at all possible. 

Katsumi ends up henging into one of the servant girls she’d seen. As long as no one stopped to speak with her, Katsumi should be able to just walk right in. She’d never been good at the vocal change part of the henge. Never been good at changing her voice at all really. Katsumi’s teeth get in the way of it too much. 

So she watches as the servant girl leaves the house to buy groceries and settles in to wait. The girl shouldn’t be back for a few hours, so Katsumi can’t go in yet without attracting attention. It’s boring, and Katsumi’s having to sit perfectly in her position in the top branches a tree, tucked into the thickest patches of leaves. It’s hot out and Katsumi spends as much time watching the passerby’s on the street as she does the house. 

Its a strange feeling, waiting to kill someone who’s done nothing to her. She’s never met the man, never spoken to him, never been threatened by him. She’s not killing in self defense this time, it’s not to defend herself or her teammates or a client. She’s killing this man because he’s been marked to die, because he sells information about the Daimyo and his court to Konoha’s enemies. She’s killing him because orders are orders. What an odd feeling it brings her to think of it. 

When about two hours have passed she inches down the tree, slowly enough not to draw attention to the movements and pausing whenever she thinks someone is looking over. It takes her a long time to make it down the tree, but she has time and caution has to be taken. Better slow and careful than fast. 

She henges as soon as her feet touch the ground, her chakra settling softly over her skin. Katsumi slips into the house without anyone sparing her a second glance. Katsumi does her best to act like she’s supposed to be there, while listening for footsteps coming towards her. It’s so much easier than she expected it to be to follow the hallway silently down to the bedroom and slip inside. Just as easy to drop the henge and slip into the closet and walk up the wall to wait in the darkest corner of the little area.

She passes the time by listening to the sounds around her. Noise doesn’t travel well in buildings, too many walls blocking sound, but it’s good practice. Just like practicing listening to sounds in the Forest where the trees muffle noise. It takes time, takes effort, takes practice, but she gets it, she always does. She has plenty of time until her target returns to improve. 

On top of that, she tries to think about her old memories as she waits, more than willing to risk the pounding headaches that always accompany them. Uchiha Obito tugs at her thoughts. She knows he’s important, knows she’d understand if she could just remember who he is. She knows she used to know his significance. She’s rearranged her list as best she can, trying to link each point on it to another. She’s managed to remember Obito and the Akatsuki are linked and ended up with dreams of an orange mask and strange spinning for a week. She’s no artist but she’s begun doing her best to sketch out every flash of memory she has. None of them are happy and she’s certain if anyone saw them she’d end up being Sasuke’s new neighbor in the Yamanaka’s psych ward. She’s managed to sketch out the images of a strange plantlike man she thinks is Zetsu. She hates looking at that picture, badly drawn as it is, it makes her skin crawl looking at it. Whoever Zetsu is, or whatever it is, it’s much worse than an unknown Uchiha. She’s certain of it. 

When Katsumi hears footsteps coming towards the room, she goes still and all of her focus is cast outward to the noise. The room has already been cleaned and the man’s sleeping clothes laid hours ago. She knows from watching the home that no one comes in again after that. Which means either more time has passed than she thought or the pattern has changed. 

If it’s the second one, Katsumi won’t be able to rely on the exit strategy Izumo had her memorize. If that happens, Katsumi is going to be in more trouble than she wants to deal with, especially since this is supposed to be a quiet operation and easier than the other marks. It’s why Genma has her taking care of this mark rather than a different one. It’s the most straightforward and the least secure. 

When the door to the bedroom opens, Katsumi goes even stiller, if possible. She can hear a pair of heartbeats stop outside the door. The third continues inside. She listens as the person, her target in all likelihood, moves about the room,

Grumbling about some disagreement or another as they move about the room. Definitely the target. 

Katsumi sits in tense silence on the wall, her heart rate steadily increasing as she listens to the target ready himself for bed. She knows how the jutsu works, six hand seals followed by two fingers placed against a major vein or artery, preferably the carotid artery, and a pulse of chakra directed against the flow of blood. Too much and a brain hemorrhage occurs, too little and they suffer a stroke that offers no guarantee of death. Better to use too much chakra than too little for this jutsu. 

Katsumi will have to linger long enough to confirm the target’s heart stops, then she has to get out. According to Izumo, most Nobles, even minor ones, have hidden doors somewhere in their bedrooms Incase they need to get out. From what he managed to tell, it will likely be under one of the tatami mats. If she’s unlucky, it will be under the bed and she’ll have to find a different way out that won’t alert the guards at the door. Moving a mattress with a corpse on it isn’t discreet, after all.

Katsumi listens to the target settle into the bed, watches as the light flooding under the door disappears. Not much longer now. The target takes a long time before his heart rate begins to slow. A sign he’s falling asleep. She doesn’t move yet though. She needs to wait until he’s in a deeper sleep. 

When she’s certain the target is fully asleep, she creeps down the wall slowly, using chakra to muffle her movements as she slips out of the closet and stares down at the target. Katsumi wants to feel something, like horror or remorse or indecision, but she doesn’t. It’s not even numbness. Just indifference. He’s just a mission and that’s all. She’s just following orders. 

Katsumi listens for a moment as she crouches down by the target’s head, when there’s no noise from the guards save for the same steady heart beats and breath as before she begins. She gathers her chakra as she flips through the seals and does her best to imagine forcing it upstream. The Ishihara scroll likened it to swimming against a current. She places her index and middle finger against the target’s carotid and releases her chakra before he has a chance to wake. It’s... both cleaner and more horrific than she expected. She knows death isn’t truly peaceful even if a person dies In their sleep. She’s killed before, but hasn’t really had time or reason to stick around and watch someone die, hadn’t even watched Naruto’s first kill until the exact moment of death. Until now. There’s mild convulsions as the target’s nerves fire for the last time and Agonal breathes that are gasping and make him look a bit like a fish out of water. Those are good though, for her. Those are the signs of a dying brain. Those are the breaths of a dead man. 

They’re also her cue to go. She doesn’t wait for the awful not-breathing but kind of breathing reflex to stop before she goes searching for the supposed secret exit. She works fast and quietly, all the time listening desperately to the guards’ motions. She finds it under the tatami mat directly in front of the door and wants to laugh hysterically because of course it’s so close it’s almost guaranteed to alert the guards if she makes even a single mistake now. Just her luck. 

Katsumi is trying to quickly and silently open a trap door that is way heavier than it has any right to be while trying to leave a room that’s now housing a slowly cooling corpse. It’s an utter pain. Opening it slowly is difficult due to the sheer weight of the door. Opening it fast would likely make too much noise though, especially once she has to close it. Once she has it open, the next part is getting in and closing it just as quietly. Which is already making her want to curse because it’s not a short drop down, at least three meters probably, and the stupid trapdoor is definitely going to slam shut if she isn’t careful. Her solution is certainly not the most elegant, but she thinks she should get points for creativity. She uses her chakra to stick her feet to the trapdoor and does practically the world’s worst crab walk on her hands along the edges the trap door until her hands are stuck to the the wall of the escape tunnel and slowly begins it pull her feet towards her. It’s awkward and feels a bit like one of Gai-san’s more unusual work outs but it gets the job done. What she’s not expecting are seals to light up along the damn walls of the tunnel as soon as the trapdoor closes and for her Chakra to immediately cut off. No one warned her about that one. It’s sudden enough and she’s in an awkward enough position to begin with that she can’t twist around to land in a more comfortable position. She hits the ground hard, landing on her left hip and shoulder and knocking her head against the wall on the way down. 

That’s not good. She doubts the seals cancel out noise. Which means she needs to go. Right now. She stumbles onto her feet and takes off through the tunnel. It’s irritating how much slower she is with no chakra assisting her. She’s more unnerved by the silence however. Suddenly having hearing that would be considered subpar by shinobi standards is disconcerting. She’s used to noise, used to a constant background of heart beats and voices and footsteps and now, in this tunnel, it doesn’t exist. She hates it. 

It doesn’t help that apparently the goddamn tunnel is, in fact, a maze. The stupid Nobles went and built some kind of demented maze under their house. Who does that?

She doesn’t have time for a maze, she’s on a time limit. Her team wants to be gone before sunrise. She can’t afford to be playing around in a Noble’s basement maze. With a curse, she ties a cord of ninja wire onto a kunai handle and stabs it into the wall. 

She ends up having to double back nearly five times before she finds her way out. She can’t leave the Kunai behind though. So she ties a second Kunai to the string and stabs it down into the ground before following the wire back to collect the first one. 

When she finally gets out, she’s greeted by the sight of the Noble’s rock garden and a still dark sky, and the wonderful feeling of her chakra again. The moon is hanging low though. She doesn’t have long until sunrise and the target will be expected up at six. Someone will check on him by seven. She can’t afford to linger anymore. 

Katsumi is up and over the wall of the garden before she has time to think, takes just enough time to get oriented and is making a beeline for the inn. It takes her longer than she’d care to admit to arrive. When she makes it, the team is waiting on the rooftop for her, everything already packed and ready to go. Kotetsu throws her bag at her as soon as her feet hit the roof. 

“Took you long enough. Thought we were gonna have to come get you.” Izumo looks twitcher than she’s seen him before. His eyes are flickering around the area constantly and he’s talking in a low, fast voice. 

“You try finding your way out of a maze without the use of your chakra underground. It’s a bitch.” Katsumi bares her teeth as she throws her bag on. 

“Target three taken care of?” Genma doesn’t look in the mood for joking. 

“Yeah, dead as dead gets.” Katsumi doesn’t bother with more details. Now that she’s back with her team, the stress of the mission and the knowledge of what she did has left her exhausted and strangely cold. She just wants to go home. 

Genma nods once. “Right. We move now.”

By the time the sun is fully in the sky, they’re long gone. 


	6. Chapter 6

Kakashi-Sensei is who she seeks out after the mission debrief. He’s done assassination missions, she figures he’s the best person to talk to about it. He’s the one who told her it was okay that she killed the man back in Wave Country, he’d taught her that when it came to a fight, it’s not about right or wrong. It’s survival. The assassination was different though. The man wasn’t a threat. Wasn’t trying to kill her or her comrades. It was just orders. It’s left her feeling cold and somewhat sick thinking about it. She thinks she’ll remember this kill forever, just the same as she remembers the very first kill. 

It takes awhile, and she ends up having to hunt down Yamato for help finding him. He sends her down to the memorial stone, apparently that’s where Sensei goes when no one can find him. To talk to the dead. 

Katsumi feels uncomfortable going to interrupt that, but she hopes he won’t be too angry with her. She increases her hearing as she walks out of habit. She hardly notices anymore that she does it when she’s looking for something, it’s become so ingrained in her. 

So when Katsumi approaches the training ground where the memorial stone is, she freezes in her tracks when she hears her Sensei’s voice speaking softly. She immediately lowers her hearing, trying not to intrude on his privacy, but not before she hears him say the name  _ Obito . _

Katsumi’s blood runs cold as she hears that and her head explodes in pain as her Sensei is immediately linked to the name Uchiha Obito. She gets a flash of a much younger Kakashi kneeling beside a young boy partially crushed by a boulder. Gets a flash of a girl with purple marks on her face transplanting an an eye into Kakashi-Sensei’s eye socket. Katsumi stops breathing because she has an answer now. Obito supposedly died under that rock. Sensei has his eye. But Obito is Tobi. The orange mask in her dreams belongs to Tobi. He’s missing an eye, the mask only has one eye opening. He should be dead. Katsumi has new questions now. How is Obito alive? From her memory, that rock should have killed him. 

Katsumi wonders if a body would still be there. If anyone ever tried to recover remains. If not, and he is really dead, the bones of a dead child should still be under those rocks. Logic follows if no one retrieved a body and there’s no skeleton where he was left, buried under rocks no animal could dig through, then he’s alive somewhere. But why didn’t he come back, if so? Shinobi generally don’t just stay gone after going MIA if they’re able to come back. Only traitors do that. The boy in her memory didn’t seem like a traitor. Of course, that’s how she felt about Sasuke.

She finally knows a bit about who Uchiha Obito was. Now, she needs to know more about who he  _ is. _That’s a critical piece of the puzzle. She needs to look at her list. Needs to add to her growing web of connecting strings. 

Thank the Sage that the Nara family doesn’t look through her things. They’ll think she’s disturbed if they find her little memory conspiracy web. She also needs to figure out how to pass the information on without earning a visit to T&I. She hopes Jiraiya found the coded list. She hopes he didn’t discard it either. She thinks the information may be critical, but she still doesn’t know how. 

Katsumi puts her feelings about the assassination aside, she has something more important to worry about now. She needs to figure how the how and the why of Tobi. She needs to do it now. She can worry about emotions tomorrow. She abandons her plan to speak with Sensei and runs to the Nara compound. Shikaku is in his office in the Jounin headquarters, Shikamaru is on a mission with his genin team, and She thinks Yoshino is visiting Choji’s mother. Good. She’ll be alone to think this out. 

She kneels down and pulls all of her increasingly insane looking lists and thinking maps and charts and drawings out from under her mattress and spreads them out on the floor. 

It’s a convoluted mess over all, but it makes sense to her. She’s carefully adds to the Obito-Tobi category what she remembers now. Then sits and stares at the rough timeline she’s been trying to draw. She knows Uchiha Obito supposedly died before the Naruto’s parents, his father made him a Jinchuuriki that night. So who was the Jinchuuriki first? Obito and Sensei looked young in the memory she had, probably not much older than her, if not a younger. So third Shinobi war. 

How he survived is significant though. But Something even more important than the how, is The Who? Someone had to have helped him. Which means someone on her list becomes significant  _ before _ Uchiha Obito does.

There’s only two names other than his on her initial list. _Uzumaki Kushina_ and _Zetsu_. Uzumaki Kushina was a fellow Konoha shinobi. She wouldn’t have left Uchiha Obito alone out there. She would have brought him back for medical treatment after stabilizing him if possible. Would certainly have brought back his body at least.

Katsumi feels pile rise in her throat as she moves the drawing of Zetsu before the rough sketch she made of Tobi’s orange mask. It feels horrible, but right. The kind of ugly truth people don’t want to know. Would rather turn their gaze away from. 

She can’t stop staring though. Somehow Uchiha Obito survived that rock. Survived crush injuries that absolutely should have ended him. And Zetsu, whatever or whoever it is, is directly linked to his survival. Katsumi’s eyes slide to another word on her list,  _ Akatsuki _ . She’s struggled with this one. Red clouds and black skies and terrible things and Obito wrapped up in it. It’s not a person. It’s bigger than just one. An idea, maybe. That doesn’t feel quite right though. 

So far Katsumi knows Zetsu and Obito are linked and Obito and Akatsuki are linked. Would it be so much of a stretch to assume that Zetsu and Akatsuki are directly linked together? That one gave rise to the next? Katsumi’s eyes slide over to  _ Danzo’s arm _ . How does one old man’s crippled arm fit into all of it? How is a Konoha elder involved? And what came first? Which thing is most important in the grand scheme of things? Which one is truly the key to the puzzle?

Katsumi’s head is pounding and black spots are beginning to dance in her vision as she keeps trying to piece it together. This can’t go on. She needs to bring someone in to help her. Someone who won’t think she’s insane. Someone she knows she can trust. Someone capable of understanding. Katsumi can’t keep doing this alone. She’ll get nowhere without help. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So who y’all think is gonna get brought into Katsumi’s secret?


	7. Chapter 7

She sits on it for two days, trying to work up the nerve to tell. Shikamaru is still gone, and she needs to tell someone now. Yoshino may listen but with a secret so big, she isn’t confident the woman will stay silent. So Katsumi spends two days trying to act normal while also staring at Shikaku whenever they’re in the same room together. From the way he keeps meeting her gaze, it’s clear he knows she wants to tell him something and is more than happy to wait her out. He’s always been the most patient person she’s known, even Shikamaru would have cracked by now. 

Finally, she can’t help it. She lays out everything she has on her bed, as neatly and coherently as possible. It still looks like the writings of an insane mind, but she thinks it looks easier to follow now. When she’s done she spends a long time staring down at it all, trying to figure out the best way to bring the subject up. She has no real idea how to explain it all. She has to try though. Even if it ends with her in a psych room. 

Carefully, she slides her bedroom door open and makes her way down the hall to where Shikaku is reading on the living room couch. She stares awkwardly at him from the entryway, shifting her weight from one foot to another. When his dark eyes slide up to look at her, one eyebrow raised expectantly, she feels hot and cold all at once and wants to be sick. Once she tells him, there’s no going back. 

“Yes, Katsumi?” Shikaku finally breaks the silence when it’s clear she’s not going to speak. 

Her mouth feels dry and she opens it multiple times trying to find the words. Finally she manages, “can... I show you something? I promise I’m not crazy.”

His eyebrows pull together at that, and she can read the concern on his face. Kami, she probably sounded like a crazy person just saying that. All the same, he nods slowly at her, “What do you need to show me?”

She hesitates for a moment, “it’s... um... it’s in my room.”

He looks panicked for a moment before he carefully fixes his face into one of soothing calm, “You’re not crazy, you’re a young girl, it’s normal, and I’m sure when Yoshino gets back she can help you.”

Katsumi freezes for a moment and her face flushes bright red. Kami no. “Um no. That’s not the problem. Can you please just come see?”

She thinks he looks relieved as he nods again and stands up, “Lead the way then.”

Katsumi’s heart is pounding out of her chest as she leads him back to her room, she can feel the panic bubbling up as she slides the door back open and steps inside. Shikaku stops in the doorway and looks as the bed for a moment, one eyebrow raised in bemusement. 

“Ahh Katsumi? What is all that?”

“Just- just look at it, please?” Katsumi can feel her hands shaking as she watches him make his way over to get a better look at it all. 

She sees his jaw tighten as his eyes flick over everything rapidly. He looks like he’s going over all of it repeatedly. Finally when he looks back up, he looks torn between confusion and maybe a hint of fear. 

“What is all of this? How do you know about Naruto’s status? Did Kakashi tell you about his team? What is this?” She’s never heard him speak so rapidly, like if he doesn’t ask her everything at once, he won’t get any answers. 

“No, Sensei didn’t tell me anything. I just know.” Katsumi stares up at him desperately, she has no idea how to explain this. 

“What do you mean you just know? Did you overhear something?”

“No. I- I have dreams. Sometimes I hear something or see something and I get a really bad headache and see these images that don’t make sense until I put them all together like this.” 

He stares at her for a long moment and looks back at her work, “Dreams. You have dreams?”

“Yes. I promise I’m not crazy, it’s real, I know it is, but I don’t understand it all and I need help working it out.” Katsumi pulls on the end of her ponytail, trying to ground herself. She can feel her lips pull back over her teeth slightly in distress. 

He nods a little, less like he’s agreeing with her and more like he’s made a decision. He runs a hand down his face and finally looks back at her, “Okay, we need to go see Inoichi. Not because I think you’re crazy. I want to check for genjutsu and maybe have him glance over these dreams you’re having. Can we do that?”

Katsumi freezes at that, not even blinking. She doesn’t want anyone else to know. They’ll think she’s crazy or a traitor or they won’t be able to be trusted with the information. She takes a step back to stand against the wall and shakes her head frantically. 

Shikaku’s lips pull down when she does that, “Katsumi, I get you don’t want to tell anyone, it was very brave of you to tell me, but we need Inoichi to check you over. I’ll make sure it stays off the record if that helps, okay?”

Katsumi stares up at him helplessly. He’s Shikaku. She’s always been able to trust him. But he’s asking her for something she’s not sure she can do. 

He sighs and reaches out to untangle her fingers from her hair, “I promise nothing will happen to you if you do this. If Inoichi takes a look, it might make whatever this is clearer for you. Might help the headaches you mentioned subside. Please, just do this? Just once.”

She came to him for help and now he’s offering it. Even if it’s not the way she hoped. Finally she manages a tiny nod and grabs onto his warm calloused hand to steady herself. He doesn’t protest it, just grips her hand tightly in his and leads her out, sliding the door shut behind him. 

They walk in silence through the streets. Shikaku doesn’t so much as glance at her when she tries to stay as close to him as possible, just tightens his hand around her a little more for a moment. Doesn’t stop to speak to anyone they pass or make any detours either. Just turns down street after street before leading her into the Yamanaka’s flower shop. It’s pretty here, full of light and color and Katsumi remembers the times she and Ino used to make flower crowns behind the counter. It doesn’t feel as pleasant now. She fees like the walls are going to close in on her and she bares her teeth further in distress. 

“Shikaku! Katsumi! What are you doing here? Need flowers for Yoshino?” Inoichi smiles widely at them from where he’s rearranging flowers by the window. 

“Not today, we actually need you to do something for us off the record if it’s all the same to you.” Shikaku’s voice drawls it out like it’s nothing. Like her memories aren’t something that make Katsumi sound like she’s taken one too many hits to the head. 

Inoichi’s smile fades and he looks entirely serious as he nods sharply once, “Alright, come with me then. You can explain what’s wrong when we’re in a more private room.”

He locks the shop door behind them and leads them up a flight of stairs in the back of the store up into the house above it. His wife is gone, and it’s eerily silent as he leads them into a little room that’s clearly an office of some sort. Shikaku directs her to one of the chairs and stands behind her, his hands gripping the back of the chair tight enough she thinks she can hear the wood creak a bit. 

Inoichi closes the door and flips through a set of hand seals before turning to them, “I’ve sealed the room from letting sound out. Can you tell me what it is that’s wrong?”

“Katsumi? Can you tell him about the dreams? And your headaches?” Shikaku’s voice is a deep, soothing rumble as he prompts her to speak. 

When Inoichi turns his pupilless eyes to her, she wants to hide. She hasn’t even said anything and she feels like he’s already picking her apart. 

“I’ve been having headaches for a little while now, really bad sudden ones that happen when I see or hear things. Things that make me have these visions that I know are real. And sometimes I have dreams that don’t make sense but they’re like memories, and until I piece them together with everything else I can’t make sense of them all. The headaches get worse the more I try to think about them.” Katsumi says it all in one breath, she feels like if she doesn’t she won’t say anything at all. 

Inoichi’s face gives away nothing. He just settles down into the chair across from her and nods as she speaks. 

“How long has this been happening?”

Katsumi has to think for a moment, “Not long after the Chuunin exams? Maybe a month after? Before I was promoted, definitely.” She thinks that when she talked to Naruto about the whole Jinchuuriki thing, anyway. 

“Has it been getting worse?”

Katsumi doesn’t even need to think about that one, “Yes, it’s getting more frequent.”

“Do the headaches occur before or after you have these visions?”

“Both? They normally happen right as I get one? Then they last for awhile afterwards until I figure out what the significance is, I guess?”

Inoichi nods at that, face remaining perfectly even, “I’d like to preform the mind walking technique if you’re willing. It shouldn’t hurt you, but I need you to relax as best you can and not fight me, will you let me do this?”

Katsumi glances up to Shikaku who’s still standing behind her, hands repetitively loosening and tightening on the back of the chair. He nods once at her in encouragement. She trusts Shikaku and he wants her to do this.She looks back to Inoichi, who’s waiting patiently for a response, and nods as firmly as she can. 

Inoichi smiles gently at her in response, “I’m going to place my hand on your forehead. Try to relax, it shouldn’t take long.”

Katsumi does her best to do as he says, but her back feels like her spine has been replaced with a metal rod and for the life of her, she can’t relax. Inoichi moves slowly, telegraphing his movements as he places his hand on her forehead. The last thing she sees before she blacks out is Inoichi flipping through a set of hand seals with his other hand. 

Katsumi comes back all at once, headache pounding all over again. She feels like she’s just come up for air after too long in freezing water. She’s practically panting as she holds her head and waits for the headache to subside. 

One of Shikaku’s hands falls from its place on the chair to rest on her shoulder, squeezing slightly. “Well, Inoichi?”

“Well, there aren’t any signs of a genjutsu. Katsumi, what do you know about reincarnation?”

Katsumi looks up at him as the pain fades, “when I was younger, I used to have memories of who I used to be. I can’t recall them anymore though.”

Inoichi doesn’t look surprised by that, “Reincarnation is rare, and normally as the person ages, they do forget those memories. These visions are... a bit different than the usual memories.”

“What does that mean?” Shikaku’s voice is sharp. 

“These aren’t truly memories of things she experienced. As best I can tell, they were a story she was told.”

“So there’s more? That she knows?” 

“Potentially. There’s a blockage in her memories so to speak. Like a dam holding back water. The headaches she’s experienced are cracks being made in that dam. It’s essentially pressure building. She’s going to start remembering a lot more. Exponentially quicker.” Inoichi’s voice is a bit dazed but his face remains placid as he speaks. 

“Can you do anything to at least relieve the pain?” Shikaku sounds frustrated. 

“I could try to knock it down, but that would likely cause her to become catatonic for a period of time. It’s better to let the dam break on its own, little by little, than knock the whole thing down.” Inoichi studies her for a moment, “Katsumi? You truly believe these memories are real, that they have happened and are going to cause things to happen, don’t you?”

“Yes.” Katsumi narrows her eyes warily at the man. 

“I agree, from what I was able to see, what’s already slipped through the barrier is concerning. If you’d be willing, I’d like to do a weekly mind walk, it may help you sort them out. Shikaku, you’ll be calculating the threat levels and how to neutralize them, I presume?”

“If they’re valid, certainly. I’m going to have to inform Lady Hokage, however. This can’t be kept hidden if it’s as bad as she thinks it is. I’ll make sure the clearance is too high for even ANBU or the council to know.” Shikaku’s voice is slower than normal, his planning voice.

“Katsumi? Is all of this acceptable to you? If this information is correct, we’re going to need to do something about it, if I really have to, I can create informants and say that’s where we learned the information, but that’s not going to be a good long term solution.”

Katsumi pauses at that, but manages, “I don’t want anyone other than Lady Hokage to know about my memories.”

Inoichi nods seriously, “Then Shikaku and I will make sure no one else learns where the information came from.”

Katsumi glances up at Shikaku for confirmation. He locks eyes with her and nods once. She relaxes a little with the knowledge they’ll do their best to keep her involvement quiet. 

They schedule her next mind walk for the following Saturday, off the record entirely. Shikaku sighs as they walk back to the Nara compound, “troublesome. You’ll have to explain to me in detail your little project. I’ll see what gaps I can’t fill for you. Since apparently clearance no longer means anything to you.”

Katsumi grins a bit at that. She’s more than happy to break down her “project” now that he’s helping her.


	8. Chapter 8

Shikaku sits beside her on the floor of her bedroom as they go over the information and theories she’s developed, his fingers laced together as he takes it all in. 

“So you think this Zetsu creature helped Uchiha Obito survive multiple tons of rock crushing him? And you also think they’re connected to the Akatsuki?” Shikaku taps the drawing of Zetsu as he speaks. 

Katsumi eyes the man as he picks everything apart, “Yeah, I do. But I can’t remember much about the Akatsuki. So, I don’t know how they fit.”

Shikaku is silent for a long moment before, “The Akatsuki is an organization of nukenin. Their end goals are unclear, but we do know they’re hunting the Jinchuuriki.”

Katsumi hisses slightly as her head pounds with the new information. Rapid fire images of men and a woman wearing black cloaks with red clouds on it flash across her vision. She’s drawing before even realizes it. She draws sixteen rough sketches out. Messy and ugly but she knows they’re identifiable enough to work. She’s been getting more than enough practice drawing out her visions. 

“That’s them. Every current and future member, I think.” Katsumi starts arranging the photos over and over until the arrangement looks right. Six pushed together in a little line, all with the weird black metal poking out of them, and the man with funny eyes and dark red hair above them. Then she adds the only woman directly below that group. The remaining eight she stares at for a while. Zetsu and Obito she already recognizes. The others though. They are both familiar and terribly strange. She’s not sure why she does it, but she sorts them all into pairs as best she can. Blonde pretty boy with creepy looking redhead. Stitches with scythe. Blue man with... Sasuke’s brother. Katsumi’s not sure what to make of that one. Sasuke never spoke about him. She feels a bit like she’s invaded his privacy knowing that. 

“We know about those six. Who are the rest?” Shikaku gestures to the ones above the pairs. 

Katsumi has to think, has to force herself to focus past the migraine building. “Head.” She points to the man at the top. “Arms and legs.” She points to the six she’d clustered below him. 

“And the woman?” 

Katsumi tilts her head a little and squints down, “Lieutenant. Head’s Friend.” 

“I see. And the arms and legs? Can you remember anything about them?”

Katsumi stares and stares at that cluster of pictures, finally manages to say, “Corpses.”

“Excuse me?” Shikaku turns to stare at her, disbelief in his eyes. 

“Corpses. They’re corpses who’re still moving.” Katsumi feels like she’s going to pass out as she says that. 

“...Alright. I think that’s enough for you today. I’m going to go over all this myself, I’ll have Yoshino bring you some tea while you rest. This is a good start, Katsumi.”

Katsumi doesn’t protest when Shikaku lifts her up like she weighs nothing and sets her in her bed, hardly notices that he pulls the covers over her like a small child. She’s too tired and her head hurts too much to worry about that right now. 

She’s too out of it to care when she hears him carefully stacking the papers together and leaving the room with them. The lights flick off and she curls up tightly into a little ball, eyes squeezed shut against the pain. 

She doesn’t sleep, the headache too bad for that, she just lays there, willing it to fade. It always does, eventually. Once she stops thinking about it all. Shikaku had given her some of the Nara clan medicine in the hopes it would stave the migraine off, but it’d only made it dull enough to bare for a little longer than usual. Katsumi hates it. 

Yoshino slips into her room in the silent way only someone who was a shinobi can. Katsumi can smell the jasmine tea she likes and if she felt more like moving she’d already be reaching for it. As it is, she doesn’t want to move her head yet. She feels Yoshino’s hand stroke her hair for a moment before she carefully frees Katsumi’s hair from her usual ponytail and runs her fingers through it, delicately untangling it. It’s a nice feeling, no one has ever done that for Katsumi before and, even with the migraine, she practically melts from the contact. 

Eventually, Yoshino’s hand disappears and Katsumi can hear the door slide shut quietly behind the woman. Katsumi has been excused from gate duty for the next few days, on Shikaku’s orders until they’ve gone over as much as they can, so She’s entirely content to just lay there and wait for the pain to fade. She’s got no reason to have to fight through it at the moment. Thank Kami. 

Katsumi drifts into the half awake, half dreaming kind of sleep as the pain slowly becomes bearable again. She dreams the strange, surreal dreams that only ever occur in this stage of sleep, where reality mixes with dreams. She’s watching ravens fly through her walls at one point. Sees an older Shikamaru standing over her with a lighter in one hand and a dark expression on his face. Sees the pretty blonde Akatsuki member flying away from her on a giant bird, the Suna nin, Gaara, held in its feet. She dreams it’s raining from her ceiling too. So much rain her room is going to flood. So much she starts to forget what it was like before the rain began. Ends up standing at the foot of her bed staring down at her own body as it’s covered in the rising water. Nonsense and surrealism. All of it. 

She’s forced awake again when she looks up in the dream to see a red moon floating above her. Her heart is pounding out of her chest and she feels cold thinking about the last image. Katsumi has never been afraid of the moon before but after that dream, she’s not near as comfortable with it. Her headache is gone though. That’s something at least. She sits up and reaches for the tea Yoshino has left her. It’s cold now, but Katsumi doesn’t care, anything is better to focus on than that dream. 

She increases her hearing as she sips the tea. Shikamaru is supposed to be home within the next few days and Katsumi knows he likes to find the most efficient way to finish a mission early. It would be nice if he’d done that again. She needs him around to ground her a little bit after that dream. No such luck though, the only heart beats in the house are Shikaku’s and Yoshino’s. both of which are the slow, steady beating of deep sleep. 

Katsumi sighs, resigning herself to a sleepless night and gets out of her bed. She’s still in the clothes she wore that day, and just grabs her swords and slips out of the room and down the hallway. She’s quiet as she slips her shoes on and walks out of the house. It’s dark and Eerily silent as she makes her way out of the compound and through the village streets to training ground three. Occasionally she can see a lone shinobi jumping between roofs. She knows if she were to walk towards the flower district, things would be much livelier but the walk between the Nara compound and the training ground is utterly still.

Katsumi knows technically shinobi are supposed to sign for use of a training ground, but this late at night, no one ever bothers to. As a precaution she does increase her hearing momentarily to check for any heartbeats in the training ground. When she hears none, she draws her swords and begins her Katas. 

Ever since the giant arrow through the shoulder incident, Katsumi’s right arm has struggled more with the movements, even with physical therapy and the Iryonin doing a beautiful job at fixing it. It’s still stiff and hurts when she moves it in ways that before would have been nothing. There’s scar tissue on the front and back of her shoulder and even with the lotions and anti scarring cream the Nara’s provided her to keep the scar tissue from tightening up, it still feels like her range of motion is limited. Of course, having an arrow tear through the muscles and tendons of your shoulder to punch a hole through your scapula isn’t exactly an easy thing to walk off. 

Still, it’s been over four months since she was released from the hospital, some sign of progress would be nice. Katsumi knows she relies on her swords a lot, but they’re hers. She’s used them for nearly a decade now and the idea of suddenly being unable to use them perfectly grates her. She worked for that skill. She sweated and bled and cried to be able to use her swords the way she’d once watched her tou-San do so. She’s it about to let one stupid arrow ruin that. 

So she runs through every single kata she knows, from the most basic ones to the most advanced ones that it took her years to master. Her shoulder burns and stings with the movements and more than once she involuntarily drops her Wakizashi when the nerves fire, but she keeps going. It used to feel like a dance, practicing the movements until they were smooth and graceful and pure muscle memory. She wants that back. 

She doesn’t know how long she’s out there. Doesn’t bother to keep track of the time as she works. She just keeps moving, Keeps going until she’s sweating and her muscles are burning and the sun is beginning to rise. She’s so focused on what she’s doing she doesn’t notice the approaching footsteps. 

“Maa, Katsumi-chan, a bit early for training isn’t it?”

Katsumi yelps as her Sensei’s voice cuts through the silence and swigs around to face him. Katsumi feels like her throat isn’t working right because she struggles to say anything. His teammate is alive somewhere and she knows it and she’s not allowed to tell and Sensei is going to hate her when he finds out. 

Sensei’s eye smile fades as he looks over her expression, “Katsumi-chan? Is this about the assassination mission Genma requested you for? I know assassinations and killing in a fight feel different, but you aren’t a bad person for carrying out the mission.” 

Katsumi forces a weak smile into her face, he’s just given her a valid excuse, “I just haven’t been sleeping well since then. Bad dreams, you know?”

“Maa, it happens to everyone. I heard you started therapy with Inoichi. Not a bad idea, he may be head of T&I but the man is good at fixing minds too.”

Katsumi nods at that, “Yeah, he’s really nice.”

Sensei looks her over for a moment before he eye smiles again. Without explanation he summons his entire pack. 

“Sensei, please don’t make me run again.” Katsumi is in no frame of mind to be able to handle getting chased down by dogs. 

“No, no. Not today. Dogs are good company to keep when you don’t feel well. They’ll stick with you for a few days, while I’m on a mission. If you like having them around, we can talk about having you sign the contract too.” He eye smiles at her and holds Pakkun out to her. 

“Well, kid? You ever hold a dog before?” Pakkun’s voice is expectant and clearly saying no isn’t an option. 

Katsumi takes him gingerly, not really sure how to respond to this development. The other dogs all seem to take this as a good sign though and they all come over and circle her, tails wagging violently as they shove themselves up against her. 

“Um, thank you, Sensei?” Katsumi wonders at her Sensei’s logic sometimes. 

“Maa, Maa of course, Katsumi-chan! Don’t forget to feed them, and Bull drools a lot so watch out for puddles.” Sensei promptly vanishes in a swirl of leaves. 

Right. So she’s dog sitting now. On top of dealing with her dreams. Okay then. At least the dogs can talk. 


	9. Chapter 9

Shikaku and Yoshino just shake their heads and smile a little when she shows up with Sensei’s Ninken. Katsumi doesn’t really know what to do with the dogs, but holding Pakkun is nice and Bull’s wall-like frame has been pressed to her hip the entire walk home. Bisuke and Ūhei seemed to decide she needed them to walk in front of her. The rest all take of positions in a little circle around her, effectively becoming physical barriers between her and the rest of the village. 

It’s nice, it reminds her of when Sasuke and Naruto were still here and would walk on either side of her through the village for their D-ranks. It’s a feeling she’s missed since Naruto left and Sasuke decided they weren’t enough for him. 

The only downside to having them around is she and Shikaku can’t discuss her visions with them present. So that will have to wait a few days until Sensei calls them back. Pakkun seems content to be a constant presence in her arms or her lap the entire time, often trying to wheedle his way into her lap at the dinner table to steal from her plate. The rest take up their own roles. Bull never speaks, she’s not sure he can, but at night he puts himself between her and the door while she sleeps, and more than once has stood between her and the villagers when it’s too crowded. Urushi is funny, and likes to make sly comments about anyone who catches his eye. Especially if he thinks she needs cheering up. Bisuke, Ūhei, and Shiba all pile into her bed at night with her and Pakkun and it’s the warmest her room as ever been with so many dogs in it and so many little bodies pressed into the bed with her. More than once they’ve woken her from the start of her nightmares by licking her face until she wakes up. Though Pakkun prefers to prod her with his foot and call her name. 

All of them help her train. Throwing out advice and encouragement when she works on her tracking. Pakkun even rewards her when she does well by letting her pet his paw pads. He’s right. They’re really, really soft. The pack literally never leaves her alone. More than once, Bull has taken up residence on the bathroom floor whenever she needs to shower, glaring at the door like he’s daring someone to try to walk in. It’s funny, because he’s the biggest teddy bear of a dog she’s ever met. 

She goes for a morning run with them every day around the Nara compound and more than once has seen different clan members raise their eye brows at the sight of Kakashi-Sensei’s Ninken running beside her. No one says a word about it though, just taking the development in stride in true Nara fashion. When she cloud watches in one of Shikamaru’s favorite spots, the pack all collapse on the ground around her and nap. More than once Bull acts as a very large pillow for her head and for Pakkun. 

She gets her first period while they’re with her though and that’s actually mortifying. She gets woken up by a frantic Shiba who’s raising hell because she’s bleeding and he can’t find an injury and Kami, now all the dogs are having fits, and it’s painfully obvious they’ve never had a female summoner before. Even Pakkun looks a bit panicked that somehow she managed to get hurt on their watch. Katsumi has never wanted to bury herself alive before but she’s so embarrassed when Shikaku and Yoshino burst into her room looking ready to attack someone, that Katsumi may just go pick a spot in the Nara forest and dig herself a hole. 

Yoshino figures out what’s wrong first and immediately kicks Shikaku out. Hushing the panicking Ninken as she makes her way over to the bed, she helps Katsumi get on her feet and give the bed a quick once over. 

“Oh, sweetheart, you go wash off and get changed, I’ll clean this up and come help you, okay? Your Kunoichi classes went over everything, didn’t they?”

“Yes ma’am,” Katsumi’s face is burning bright red as Yoshino pushes her gently towards the door. The academy went over all of it in excruciating detail and Katsumi understands there’s a seal or something that the hospital gives Kunoichi once their cycle starts to prevent menstruation altogether after the first time. Kunoichi can’t afford to worry about things like this one missions, after all. 

“Good, good. We’ll go to the hospital tomorrow and get everything taken care of, there’s pads under the sink for tonight, do you need me to show you how to use them?” Yoshino peels the sheets off the bed quick and efficiently, not batting an eyelash at the blood stain. Much smaller than Katsumi thought it was based on Shiba’s hysterics. 

“No... they showed us at the academy.” Katsumi would actually die of embarrassment if Yoshino had to show her that. 

In his usual fashion, Bull attaches himself to her hip while she makes her way to the bathroom. The rest of the pack is calmer now that they’ve learned this is normal, but still trail after the pair and crowd around the outside of the bathroom like they’re daring anyone to bother her. Katsumi is quickly coming to adore them and their easy presence. 

Bull’s heavy breathing by the door is as constant as anything as she showers. Katsumi knows logically this was going to have to happen eventually. Knows she had to have had this when she was the other girl even if she can’t recall it now, but that doesn’t make her happy about it. She really, really doesn’t like the blood she can see washing down the drain. If this makes her scent change she’s going to have an apoplectic fit. She doesn’t want Sensei or Kiba or anyone being able to smell this. She’ll end up having to go into hiding if that’s the case. She doesn’t care that it’s normal or that the hospital has a seal that will pause it indefinitely, she does not like it. Kami, she hopes the pack doesn’t mention this to Sensei, she’ll have to tell them not to. 

When she finishes changing into clean clothes and has dealt with the pad issue, Katsumi wanders back outside and picks up Pakkun, who grumbles a bit about her worrying them for no reason, and heads to the kitchen. She wants Yoshino’s jasmine tea. That sounds nice right now. If they had any mochi she’d be all over that too. 

Yoshino has already beaten her to the tea.Two cups of it already placed on the table across from each other. Kami bless this woman. The pack surrounds her as she takes a seat. Pakkun content to sit in her lap while the rest vie for a spot pressed up against her legs. Such clingers they are. Katsumi understands why Kakashi-sensei gave them to her. They’re good company. 

Yoshino eventually returns to the kitchen and sits down across from her.

“There, everything’s taken care of, are you cramping up or anything? I have some medicine that will help, and a hot water bottle if you’d like one of those. The seal tomorrow shouldn’t hurt, and after this time ends, you won’t have to worry about it again until you’re ready to.”

Katsumi thinks about that, she doesn’t think she’s been cramping up that much, she’d been attributing anything like that to her training. 

“Maybe some cramping? With all my training I’m not sure though.”

Pakkun makes a grunting noise at that, “Pups need to tell when they’re in pain. It’s bad for them not to.”

Shiba makes a noise of agreement, “Worried us, you did. Thought bad things happened.”

“It’s not like I planned it.” Katsumi mutters into her tea cup. 

“It’s fine, Katsumi, it was bound to happen sooner or later. Honestly, I’ve been expecting it. All the stress you’ve been under since becoming graduate probably delayed it. It’s common enough for Kunoichi to have it start later.” Yoshino smiles at her reassuringly. 

Katsumi hums a little at that. Good to know she’s not unusual or anything. But, still. So awkward. 


	10. Chapter 10

Katsumi’s first “therapy” session with Inoichi is immediately following her visit to the hospital to get the anti-menstruation seal placed on her lower stomach. Thankfully the seal is small and painless, though it itched a little immediately following its placement. The pack isn’t allowed to come with her to see Inoichi. Shikaku’s the one who told her that. If they were her summons it would be fine, but ultimately they answer to Kakashi-sensei, not her. They can’t be sworn to silence. 

Inoichi ushers her into the office from before when she arrives. Tells her not to say a word until the silencing seals have been set. Idly, Katsumi wonders who would be listening into a rookie chuunin’s therapy session, but then, this is a Shinobi village. Shinobi tend to be a bit noisy. 

Inoichi smiles at her warmly as he sits across from her, “Good morning, Katsumi. According to Shikaku you remembered somethings while the pair of you were going over the things you’ve collected. Have you had any other visions or dreams since then?”

Katsumi hesitates, she’s had that strange dream that ended with a red moon. She thinks that qualifies, “Yeah. I dreamed of a lot of ravens, and Shikamaru with a lighter, and the blonde Akatsuki member carrying a Suna nin away. Then there was a lot of rain and a red moon.”

That dream was unnerving enough to remember clearly. She still thinks about the red moon. And seeing her body covered in rain water. 

Inoichi nods slightly and writes it down in the file he and Shikaku have been compiling, “Last time, I did a mind walk without you being able to see what I was seeing. Today, I’d like to have you witness what I’ll see in your mind, if you’re willing.”

Katsumi hesitates, she’s not sure she wants to know what the inside of her head looks like. It sounds unpleasant. 

Inoichi can clearly read the hesitation, “it shouldn’t cause you any pain. It may help us make more sense of your memories as well. If you aren’t comfortable with it, you don’t have to join me on the mind walk, of course.”

They do need to understand more. Even if it turns out to be unpleasant, most things shinobi do are unpleasant, she’s never hesitated to do those. 

“Okay, Lets do it.” Katsumi meets his eyes resolutely. Fear can’t rule a shinobi. So it won’t rule her. 

Inoichi smiles encouragingly, “we’ll begin now.”

Katsumi forces her breath to stay steady as she watches him form the hand seals and place a hand on her forehead again. 

This time it’s like having severe vertigo. Like she’s falling forward with no way to catch herself. It’s disorientating for a long moment. When she regains her bearings, she’s in her room watching ravens fly through her walls again. They’re much clearer now than in her original dream. She could count the feathers on them if they stayed still long enough. She can see their eyes now too. Vivid blood red and black. Katsumi can recognize that combination anywhere, even if the pattern is different. The Sharingan. It doesn’t look like Sasuke’s though. 

“Sasuke’s brother, Uchiha Itachi, has crow summons.” Inoichi’s calm voice echoes slightly in her mind. She can feel his hand on her shoulder too. 

“Not ravens. Crows.” Katsumi murmurs it as she watches, “What kind of Sharingan is that? It’s not normal.”

“I’m not privy to that knowledge, it’s likely a clan secret.” With that the image is changing, and she’s watching rain flood her room and cover her body a second time. It’s ominous and never ending. She’s never heard of rain that never stops. 

“Amegakure is this way. It rains near constantly there.” Inoichi is prompting her, she realizes, giving her information in the hopes it triggers a vision.

“Amegakure... Jiraiya shouldn’t go there. No one should.” Katsumi feels sick just thinking about a Konoha shinobi going there. There is nothing but death waiting in Ame. 

“Death in Ame? What is it there that scares you so much?” The image shifts again and she’s staring up at a village she’s never been to. Tall, metal buildings and so much rain and paper angels hanging in the windows.

“Is this Ame?” Inoichi sounds mildly curious, “It looks good for a village that’s supposed to be in a decades long civil war.”

It does. She wonders at that. It’s depressing certainly, but it’s no war zone. It hasn’t been for a long time. Katsumi can’t help but begin to walk through the wet streets, staring up at the buildings. She’s looking for something. Someone. Inoichi doesn’t stop her, just follows sedately behind her. 

There it is. A strange metal face thing with its tongue curled out of its mouth. Someone should be there. God should be there. 

“God?” If he’s surprised, Inoichi’s voice doesn’t betray him. 

“God makes the rain fall here. Sometimes he stops it. Every Sunday.” She whispers it, like God will hear her if she’s louder. 

“Does this god have a face?”

Katsumi stares up at the metal tongue. God sits there. Eventually she’ll see him. She’ll know his face. 

“So this God is just a man?” 

The scene changes before she sees Ame’s God. It’s still raining, but Ame looks destroyed. Like the civil war still exists. This is the birth of a God. That’s what they’ll witness here. 

“Is it? How is a god born?” Inoichi sounds curious. Surely he understands by now. 

There. A woman with purple hair. A man with lavender eyes. A dying man. The terrible man who’s about to die next. So much grief. So much pain. So much anger. 

“Who is the god, Katsumi?” 

“The dying boy is the face of God. The grieving one is God.”

“The dying boy is God’s face?”

“He will be.”

“And the woman?”

“The Paper Angel.”

“A god, an angel, and the face of god. All in war torn Ame.”

Yes, all in Ame. It’s interesting, Katsumi notes, that they became so strong in such a crippled village. 

“Tell me, do you know how they did that?”

Katsumi tilts her head as the scene changes. The Sannin, when they were young and still one mind in three bodies, before they broke irreparably. Debating what to do with three small, starving children. Leave them or kill them or help them. Orochimaru should have ended them. 

“A harsh sentence for children.”

“Children grow. Some become threats.” 

“Indeed. So, they were taught by Jiraiya. I’ve heard stories of him teaching some children for a few years in the second Shinobi war. Now we know what they became.”

“Jiraiya will die by their hand.” What a vile thing to say, but it’s true unless prevented. 

“How does one prevent that?”

“Don’t go to Ame.” Obviously, she doesn’t say. 

“How is Uchiha Obito linked to all of this?”

The images shift abruptly, vertigo hitting all over again until they’re staring down at a young Kakashi-sensei kneeling beside a dying Obito, their female teammate at their sides. 

“This mission was vital to ending the third shinobi war. Uchiha Obito was killed in action here.”

No. Obito is Tobi and Tobi is alive. Alive and warped. A villain and a tragedy all in one. Like Ame’s god. 

“If Obito is Tobi, is he still Obito?”

“Not right now. One day maybe.”

The scene shifts and it’s Tobi in his ugly orange mask dematerializing over and over to dodge the explosions the pretty blonde Akatsuki member is setting off. 

“Deidara. He’s in Iwa nukenin. S-rank.”

“He’s an artist. He’ll die for his art.”

“And Tobi? How will he die?”

Katsumi feels like she’s been slammed into a brick wall. She can’t remember. The scene is blurring and shaking and before long it shatters around them. Her vision goes dark and she can feel Inoichi’s withdrawal from her mind. 

When she comes back to herself, her head is pounding and she’s sweating. Inoichi looks a bit ruffled by the sudden expulsion from her mind as he takes his hand off her forehead. 

“I think that’s enough for today. You did well, this is valuable information.” Inoichi smiles at her and hands her one of the Nara medicine pills Shikaku gave him for these sessions. It may not make them go away, but taking the edge of the headaches helps a lot. 

“Same time next week?” Katsumi swallows the pills and tries not to look too much like she’s exhausted from the session. 

“If that works for you. I’d like to try and learn about Zetsu next time if you’re willing.” Inoichi is writing rapidly as he speaks. 

“Yeah, that works.” Katsumi wants to curl up with the pack now. 

“Wonderful. I’ll see you next week then.” Inoichi helps her to her feet, down the stairs, and through the flower shop to the door.

For a two hour long session, it felt like a life time. Katsumi is already dreading the next one. 


	11. Chapter 11

Around the time Shikamaru returns, Katsumi starts to hear heart beats following her. Just one or two at a time, but they keep their distance and if they didn’t disappear whenever she entered the compound, she wouldn’t have noticed with so many other heartbeats in the village. They follow her to the training grounds and linger in the trees as she practices, they follow her to her gate duty with Hayase, though he never notices them. 

Katsumi doesn’t like it, the feeing of being watched in her own village puts her on edge, makes her more temperamental than usual and when she bumped into Tsume at the weapons shop, the woman could tell and suggested she come stay with the Inuzuka’s again. Katsumi seriously considers taking her up on the offer, maybe the heart beats will back off if she’s surrounded by people who could sniff them out in the time it takes to blink. 

Katsumi has enough of it after three days. Sensei is due back in another day, and if she were less angry about the tails she’d do the responsible thing and either tell Shikaku now or wait for sensei. As it is, she’s not that level headed about it. She’s irritated about being followed and has been on edge since she first noticed it. So she marches out to the training grounds after her gate duty ends, no Ninken with her. 

She walks out to the middle of her usual training ground and waits for the heart beats to settle into trees a safe distance from her. Katsumi bares her teeth at the exact position of one of them. Up in a tree,far enough out that she wouldn’t be able to sense their chakra if she were a sensor. Probably wouldn’t have been able to smell them unless she was actively trying. Well within her range of hearing though. 

“Well? Come out! I’m sick of you people following me!” Katsumi’s voice is half snarl half yell as she challenges them. She’ll give them the chance to show themselves before she starts hunting because she is done with this. 

There’s a momentary pause and she can hear one of the heart beats pick up pace for a second before returning to normal. So. They either didn’t realize her hearing is as good as it is or they didn’t think she’d call them out directly. Surprise. 

“Last chance!” Katsumi zeros in on the heart beat that had increased. She’s more than happy to make them show themselves if they won’t do it voluntarily. 

Finally there’s a slight breeze and the heart beats are directly behind her. How dramatic. She twists around, teeth bared and fully prepared to demand an explanation until she sees the ANBU masks. Oops. Probably shouldn’t call out these guys. Too late now though. 

“Why are ANBU tailing me?” Katsumi knows she hasn’t done anything to warrant tails. Her connection to Sasuke hadn’t warranted them before, so it shouldn’t warrant them now. Her eyes flick from the bird mask to the mask that looks vaguely like a bear.

It’s the bird masked ANBU who answers her, “Orders of the Lady Hokage. Your safety has been deemed vital to the security of the village.”

What. Katsumi knows Inoichi and Shikaku informed the Hokage of her visions, but she didn’t think that would qualify her for ANBU babysitters. 

“So I’m being babysat now?” 

“While in the village, you’re to have guards on you at all times, except for when in clan compounds.”

“What about missions?” Katsumi refuses to be grounded indefinitely. She enjoys missions. Enjoys the work and the difficulty. She will loose her mind if she can’t go on missions. It could delay her edibility for a jounin promotion. 

“All missions must be approved by Lady Hokage and then only with approved team members.

“What’s an ‘approved’ team member?” Katsumi doesn’t like where this is heading. She really does not want babysitters. 

“At least one member of all teams you’re one will be either former or current ANBU.” Bear mask answer her, voice completely monotone. 

“And is there anyway I can get out of having a babysitter? Or is it this or join ANBU or just never do anything?” Katsumi’s eye twitches a little when the ANBU say nothing. 

“That’s it, isn’t it? Those are my options.” Katsumi has never considered yelling at a Kage before, but the Godaime is making her want to. 

The ANBU say nothing else. Just two animal masks staring down in silence at her. Katsumi purses her lips in frustration. 

“When can I speak with Lady Hokage?” Might as well go to the source of the orders. Maybe get some actual results. 

“We’ll fetch you when she’s able to meet with you.” With that the pair vanishes back into the trees. Their hearts beating steady rhythms behind her. 

Great. Katsumi stalks out of the training ground and heads home. The heart beats follow her until she crosses the threshold of the Nara compound. Katsumi makes a beeline for the shower when she enters the darkened house, the pack immediately crowding around her when she enters (except for Pakkun whose already asleep on her bed). All of them can tell she’s not happy and are badgering her to tell them what’s wrong. The problem is, she  _ can’t _ . It pertains to her memory vision things and there’s only three other people allowed to know she has them. She’s been forbidden from letting the pack know, because then Kakashi-sensei will know and he’s not supposed to know. Katsumi just lies and tells them the shift was dull. She’s certain they can smell the lie, but none of them call her on it. Just take their normal positions around the bathroom door as she showers. Bull more than once sticks his head in the shower with her and whines, clearly hoping she’ll tell him what’s wrong. Katsumi loves the pack for their constant presence and unwavering support. She’s going to be sad when Sensei comes back tomorrow and takes them again. She likes having them around her. 

Katsumi finishes her shower, goes to her room and gently picks the snoring pug up from the bed. Pakkun grumbles at her and yawns but other than that doesn’t protest her moving him. She carries Pakkun to Shikamaru’s room and slips inside, the rest of the pack muttering in confusion but not protesting the change in dens (as they call bedrooms). Shikamaru is sprawled out shirtless and Katsumi can see long, jagged cuts on his back and a nasty bruise on his arm. His mission must have had a bit of combat in it.

Carefully, she sets Pakkun down on the side of the bed she normally sleeps on and crawls in between the pug and the sleeping boy. The rest of the pack finds spots on and around the bed as best they can. It’s a tight fit and, as usual, Bull keeps his guard by the door. Shikamaru doesn’t even stir at the change. Katsumi curls up into a ball around Pakkun and tries to sleep. It takes a long time before she does. 


	12. Chapter 12

The ANBU are still following her the next day when she goes to meet Sakura and Ino at the onsen again. Sensei’s Ninken had been summoned by him just after she woke up and she already misses them. They were good company. The ANBU aren’t near as enjoyable to have around. 

Ino and Sakura are already there when she arrives, relaxing against the edge of the pool and talking in the slow relaxed way someone does when they’re really enjoying themselves. Ino’s hair is getting even longer. Katsumi is a bit jealous of that, even nearly a year since Zabuza’s sword sliced through her ponytail, it’s still not at the length it used to be. 

Katsumi slips into the water beside Sakura with a content sigh. This is the best way to socialize in her opinion. Hot water is fantastic. 

“Katsumi! Sakura and I were just talking about taking some Iryonin classes. What do you think?” Ino opens one blue eye to look inquisitively over at her. 

She considers that for a moment. No one in their academy graduation had extensive training in Iryonin jutsu. The boys hardly ever go into it, apparently it’s not manly enough or something. Then Kabuto, the one guy the rookies knew who had been one, turned out to be a traitor, that just soured them to it more. Unfortunate, really. Having at least one iryonin on a mission occasionally would be nice. 

“It would be beneficial for missions, if you have good enough chakra control you could weaponize chakra scalpels like Kabuto did. End up a field medic. Konoha always needs more of those.” She’d learned about Kabuto through Sakura who’d trained with him a little before the Chuunin exams. The chakra scalpels sounded like much higher level versions of the chakra claws Tsume had taught her. 

“You could take the classes with us,” Sakura turns her head and considers her seriously. She’s got the scary mission focus face on. Katsumi really hates being on the receiving end of it. 

“My chakra control is just under the minimum requirements for learning Iryo-ninjutsu. I’d end up doing more harm than good to my patients. Best I can do is the first aid everyone is taught in the academy.” Katsumi has no illusions, even if her chakra control did meet the requirements, she’d be a shit medic. Her bedside manner would be cold at best. She’s no good at dealing with strangers. She respects the medics, but she has no desire to be one. That’s when you see your comrades at their worst. She doesn’t have it in her to deal with that. 

“That’s too bad, the three of us could have taken the hospital by storm.” Says Ino airily. That confidence is one of a kind. 

“Why do you two want to take them anyway?” Katsumi knows Sakura has her mokuton training already, and Ino is preparing for the next Chuunin exams in Suna. It seems like it would be adding a lot to their already full plates. 

It’s Sakura who answers first, “My Chakra reserves are limited, even with all the ninjutsu practice with Yamato-sensei expanding it. There’s only so far I’ll be able to take my mokuton because of it. This way I’ll be able to maximize my ability to help my comrades. Won’t have to leave you stuck to another tree, you know?”

Katsumi’s shoulder twinges in phantom pain at the reminder. She’d like to never repeat that in her life. “I get it, you certainly have the control for it.”

Sakura hums in agreement and sinks lower into the water. Katsumi narrows her eyes slightly as she thinks about Sakura as a medic. Her head only hurts a little, and when she decides that would suit her well, it subsides altogether. So, her past memories agree with her. Good to know. 

Ino pipes up from Sakura’s other side, “Besides, if the Suna Chuunin exams are anything like our last one was, I need to be able to fix Choji and whoever our third will be.”

Katsumi thinks about the forest of death. And yeah, having a medic then would have been a godsend. Ino may be onto something there. 

She lets her eyes slide shut and her head tilt back as they fall into a comfortable silence. She can hear her ANBU’s hearts and she can’t help but be annoyed. If they’re watching them in the onsen, Katsumi is going to lose it. They better have enough curtesy to look elsewhere. 

“So, Katsumi, you know you can visit Sasuke now if you wanted to?” Ino breaks the silence with a question Katsumi isn’t ready for. 

Katsumi’s known for awhile that Sasuke is allowed supervised visits from her team. She thinks Kakashi-sensei went to see him once, he wasn’t in a good mood afterwards though. Katsumi is reluctant to go, though. She’s not sure what she’d even say to Sasuke. He defected and she took his eye out and now he’s in the Yamanaka’s psych ward indefinitely. She’s not sure there’s anything left to say really.

“Yeah, I know, but I’ve been busy. And what am I supposed to talk to him about?”

Ino shifts and sits up to look at her, face entirely serious, “He’s still your old teammate, it would be good for him to see people he was close with. It might help his treatment. That curse mark has done a number on his mental state.”

Yeah. And those Oto nin who helped him did a number on her and her friends. Katsumi really doesn’t want to see him yet. 

“It’d be good for you too. For closure at the very least.” Ino pushes a little harder. 

Katsumi can hear the ANBU shift a little and realizes she’s been leaking minor killing intent since Ino’s initial mention of the Uchiha. Oops. She reins that in and nods slightly at Ino, “I’ll think about it.”

“Good. No one will make you visit, but I do think it would be good for you.” Seemingly satisfied, Ino leans back again. 

Katsumi’s not relaxed anymore though. She’s done her best not to think about her wayward teammate since they brought him back. More than once, she’s wondered if bringing him back was really worth it. He left on his own two feet. He had to be dragged back. Katsumi wonders if there’s any benefit to keep a shinobi who isn’t loyal here. If it’d been her or Kiba or Sakura or any other one of their academy class, it would have been a Hunter nin chasing them, not Chuunin and a team of genin. It would have been an execution. Not a retrieval. She hates to admit it, but she’s not sure her teammate exists anymore. She’s not sure they can fix him now. 

“Stop thinking so loudly, Katsumi. If you aren’t ready to see him, you don’t have too.” Sakura gives her a knowing look as she interrupts Katsumi’s rapidly increasing spiral into darker thoughts. 

“Sorry.” Katsumi mutters and tries to relax again, but the enjoyment is gone. She feels full of nervous, negative energy. She feels like she needs a fight now. Thinking of Sasuke lately has had that effect on her.Maybe she could convince one of her shiny, new babysitters to spar with her. Since they have to hang around her anyway, might as well see if they’d like something to do. 

Not now though, she’s determined to spend time with her friends. She sees them so rarely outside of training or the occasional mission. Ino, Shikamaru and Choji have been running a lot of C-ranks, Asuma is apparently determined to see his last two students make Chuunin this time around. They’ve even taken the occasional B-rank now that Shikamaru is a Chuunin. Sakura and Yamato are practically living in one of the training grounds lately when they aren’t running their own missions. Katsumi doesn’t want to let her issues ruin the little time she has with them. So she does what she does on missions, she pushes all the bad aside until she can deal with it later. 

Katsumi sinks further into the water until it’s up to her chin and just lets her mind drift a little. There’s a lot to think about really. Her memories, her training, the ANBU guards, her Tou-san’s eventual return, there’s always a lot. Mostly unpleasant. 

Her mind stops on Naruto and Uzumaki Kushina and the Yondaime. Naruto is the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki and has been for his entire life. The Yondaime died when he sealed it into Naruto. Uzumaki Kushina died too that day. The Kyuubi appeared and then he was sealed and then they died. Why did the Kyuubi appear? She can feel the headache building when she comes to that thought. Katsumi mentally runs through the original list she wrote down, long memorized. Three names Total were on it: Danzo, Uzumaki Kushina, and Uchiha Obito. So far, Katsumi is running under the assumption that everything is connected. So Uchiha Obito is connected to Uzumaki Kushina somehow, and by extension, Naruto. That increases the headache enough to make Katsumi’s eyes pop open and for her to sit up suddenly. She needs Inoichi’s mind walk now. She’s almost certain she’ll have an answer if he helps her now. 

Katsumi is out of the Onsen before she can blink, giving a paltry excuse of forgetting something when Ino and Sakura ask her where she’s going. She’s dressed and moving without a thought to how the suddenness must look to her babysitters. 

As soon as she’s on an empty street, the ANBU appear in front of her, clearly tenser than the last time she saw them. 

“Ishihara, is there a problem?” The bird mask’s monotone voice somehow conveys urgency. 

“I need to see Inoichi, now.” Katsumi squeezes her eyes shut against the pain of the headache. She doesn’t have time for the ANBU and their never ending paranoia. She needs Inoichi to dig around in her head until the answers come. 

There’s a moment of silence and when she opens her eyes again she can see them flicking through ANBU hand signs. Kami, she can’t wait for them to get to whatever conclusion they’re working towards. Katsumi moves to go passed them and before she can get more than a step, the Bear mask if picking her up without a word and Shushins away. Katsumi nearly hits the man as they move. She isn’t an invalid. She is fully capable of going to Inoichi by herself, thank you. 

They stop in Inoichi’s office and Katsumi wonders who told the ANBU this is the right one to go to. She knows he has a different office in T&I. 

“I could have walked myself, you know.” Katsumi glares up at the expressionless mask as she’s set down. 

“Crane is getting Inoichi. This was quickest.” 

Alright. Well. She supposed she can’t argue that. Bear stays in the room with her, a silent sentinel until Inoichi finally enters the room and tells him to leave. 

“Katsumi, you needed me?” Inoichi’s attention is entirely focused on her. 

“I need a mind walk now. Is there anyway to direct it around Uchiha Obito?” Katsumi is going to get answers. Now. 

“Of course. Try to focus on him and we’ll see what we can find.” Inoichi’s hand is falling onto her forehead as he says it. 

Before she knows it, the vertigo is hitting again and the world around her vanishes. 


	13. Chapter 13

The world snaps into focus again and Katsumi is witnessing the Yondaime fighting Obito. It’s a different mask, but she knows it’s him. She knows this is the night of the Kyuubi attack too. 

“There were rumors that an Uchiha was controlling the Kyuubi during the attack. It caused tension between the Uchiha clan and the village.” Inoichi’s voice echoes around her as they watch the scene unfold. 

Katsumi watches the man, Obito or Tobi orwhoever he’s decided he is, seem to disappear in a strange twisting of the air around him. Kamui. The word comes to her like a punch to the face. The Sharingan does that. Can do that. It’s why Tobi survives Deidara’s temper. Sensei’s should be able to do it too. They have the same eyes after all. 

“Kamui? Do you know how it works?” Interest fills Inoichi’s voice. 

“Dimension jumping.” Katsumi isn’t clear on the how. But the What is clear enough. 

“I see. Do you know why he would attack the village?”

“He’s angry. And hurting and he blames the world.” Katsumi thinks Sasuke is rather like that. 

“And what does he want?” Inoichi’s voice is harder now. It sounds more like a demand than anything else he’s ever said to her. Like the T&I head he is. 

The memory ripples until they’re watching a young Kakashi-sensei standing on a bridge, his hand through the chest of his female teammate. Oh. Katsumi feels a distant pang of sorrow for her Sensei. She can see the horror etched across his young face. 

“Nohara Rin. She committed suicide using Hatake’s Chidori. Kiri sealed one of the bijuu into her using an unstable seal. She was meant to unleash it onto Konoha.” 

Katsumi wonders how Sensei can tolerate her, knowing her blood is Kiri blood. Surely he must have moments of resentment when he remembers that. She thinks she would if she were in his place. 

“Focus, Katsumi. Is this why Uchiha is angry?”

Yes. Obviously. He wants Rin back. He loved her. Loves her. Would burn the world down to have her again. 

“The dead are gone, Katsumi. Surely he must know that.”

Delusion and heartbreak and anger. In a perfect world, Nohara Rin would be alive and Uchiha Obito would be a loyal Konoha shinobi. A perfect world that’s impossible. Reality can’t be shaped into perfection. 

“Reality can’t be. So what is his plan?”

Katsumi watches Sensei and the dead girl and the bridge melt away. What forms is the sight of a red moon. Katsumi wants to hide from it. Being caught by it is bad. There are cocoons the size of people everywhere and the place around them looks destroyed. Looks like a giant battle happened. 

“What is this?” Inoichi sounds shaken as he stares. 

Katsumi remembers one of the last things she wrote on the list. Infinite tsukuyomi. Obito needs it for his perfect world. His fake world.

“A genjutsu?” 

Katsumi wanders through the cocoons staring at them all. Caught like flies by a red moon. By a Sharingan powerful beyond her own comprehension. 

Inoichi’s hand falls to her shoulder, “I think that’s enough for one day.”

It’s a much more gentle ending to the memory walk than the last time. Instead of the glasslike shattering that occurred last time, it’s like the light slowly fades away and when it comes back, she’s sitting in Inoichi’s office again and he’s already undoing the seals on it. 

Katsumi’s head is pounding as she hears more than sees the ANBU reappear in the room behind her. Inoichi hands her the pills again without looking at her and immediately begins writing rapidly in the file on his desk. When he’s done he picks it up and looks over at Katsumi and the ANBU. 

“If you two would take her to see Lady Tsunade, I’ll meet you there momentarily.” 

Katsumi barely has time to glance behind her at the ANBU before Bear is picking her up again, and wow she’s really going to have to discuss boundaries with him, and Shushinning out of the building like it’s on fire. 

Tsunade looks less than impressed when Bear sets her down in the middle of the Hokage’s office like he’s presenting her.

“Is there a reason you showed up here unannounced, Ishihara?” 

Katsumi shrugs helplessly, “Inoichi-san told my babysitters to bring me here. How long am I going to have them, since Inoichi isn’t here yet?”

“Until further notice, brat. now one of you tell me what’s going on. Now.”

Crane answers, “roughly an hour and a half ago, Ishihara began showing signs of distress and went to see Inoichi-san. Bear and I intercepted her to confirm she was okay. Bear delivered her to the office, while I went to find Inoichi-san. A mind walk was preformed and Inoichi-san instructed us to bring her to you while he went go get his other files.”

Tsunade’s eyes narrow dangerously, “Ishihara? What exactly did you figure out that would cause Yamanaka to react like that?”

Katsumi hesitates and steals a glance at the ANBU on either side of her. As far as she knows, she’s not supposed to talk about it to anyone, ANBU babysitters included. 

“Ishihara! You have permission to speak in front of them, Bear and Crane have both been personally vetted by Yamanaka, they are already aware of the contents of your memories.”

Oh. Well damn. Someone should have mentioned that to her. She’d have been bouncing theories off of them. 

“Uchiha Obito caused the Kyuubi attack that killed the Yondaime. He wants to make a perfect world using a genjutsu called Infinite Tsukuyomi. There’s going to be a war because of him.”

If Katsumi thought Tsunade looked angry before, she looks downright lethal now. The desk creaks ominously where her hands and resting on it. No killing intent escapes the woman though. 

“Anything else?” 

“He uses a jutsu called Kamui, that allows him to cross through dimensions. I don’t think he can actually be contained with anything short of one of the seals used for bijuu.” It’s just a guess, but Katsumi is fairly certain a normal prison cell won’t hold the man. 

Tsunade’s teeth grind audibly at that. Yeah, Katsumi figured that wouldn’t go ever well. As long as it doesn’t get the desk thrown at her, she doesn’t mind. 

“We’ll discuss this further once Yamanaka arrives.”

The room falls into a tense silence. The ANBU stand statuesque on either side of her while Tsunade sighs and laces her fingers together in front of her on the desk. Katsumi wonders what’s going to happen now. It’s clear Tsunade wants something done now, or she would have dismissed her, but Katsumi has no idea what that is. She’s not sure how much she needs to be here for Inoichi’s meeting. There’s only so much input she would be able to give. 

When Inoichi finally arrives, he brings a stack of files and Shikaku with him. Both look grim. Katsumi is almost certain she doesn’t want to know where this is going to go. 

“Inoichi, I’m going to assume the situation is worse than we’ve been thinking.” Tsunade’s voice is dry as the desert. 

“So far, we’ve confirmed her memories of past occurrences are accurate and collaborate information we have had. If her knowledge of the future is to be believed, Konoha will see war in a few years time. Unless we can neutralize all the threats we’ve identified thus far. Starting with Uchiha Obito, if possible.”

Tsunade’s eyes narrow as she considers that, “You realize we have no idea where he is. We know what he’s done and what he can do. We don’t know where he is or how to stop him.”

Katsumi pipes up, “his Kamui. His Sharingan allows that. Kakashi-Sensei maybe able to do it too.” 

“I wouldn’t recommend using Hatake for this. He would be emotionally compromised.” Inoichi sounds resigned to that, like there’s no chance that idea would ever be valid. 

“The Akatsuki’s foot soldiers. Tell me, could neutralizing them buy us time to come up with a solution?” Tsunade’s eyes cut to Shikaku. 

“Right now, we aren’t clear on how their goal of capturing the tailed beasts coincides with Uchiha Obito’s goal of placing the world under a genjutsu. It may be a back up plan for him or even a prerequisite for his genjutsu, until Katsumi’s memories are clearer, we don’t know. If it’s a prerequisite, it would certainly slow them down, at least to a degree. If not, he’d likely be alerted that he’s no longer operating in secret and that may cause him to lash out.” 

“Uchiha Itachi needs to outlive Uchiha Obito.” Katsumi blurts it out unthinkingly. She has no idea why she says it, only that it’s true. The medicine she took is doing a wonderful job at keeping the migraine from getting worse, but now she has no way of Gauging if she’s into something. 

“Why?” Tsunade looks more curious than annoyed. 

Katsumi’s lips twist as she tries to dredge up the reason. There is one, but it’s eluding her. Finally she shakes her head, “I’m not sure, but it’s important.”

“Fine. Inoichi, when she’s able to handle another mind walk, find out why. We have another problem to discuss, regarding Ame.”

Katsumi can practically feel the tension pour off of Shikaku and Inoichi at that statement. She knows Ame is bad, but so long as no Konoha shinobi are there, it’s not the biggest threat now. 

“Ishihara, according to your previous mind walk, Ame is “death” if our shinobi go there.” It’s not a question, but Katsumi nods anyway. 

“We currently have a Shinobi in Ame working to establish themselves there to pass information back to us. If what you’re saying holds true, it may be too dangerous to send an extraction team for them, if things go badly.”

Katsumi doesn’t like where this is heading, “yes, Lady Hokage?”

“Would you suggest sending an extraction team? I only ask, because your memories are the clearest picture we have of the current situation there. Even with a spy embedded there.”

Oh. Katsumi hates that question. She knows the logical answer. But she also knows what sensei would say. She words her answer carefully, “I would consider it extremely risky to send anyone else to Ame, but we’re Konohagakure. We’re known for valuing each other.”

Tsunade leans back In her chair and brushes blonde hair back from her face, “Your input is noted. Shikaku, Inoichi, come back later but leave the files, we have things to discuss further. Ishihara, stay.”

The ANBU at her shoulders stay perfectly still as Katsumi twists around to watch the men walk out the door. She’s not sure she’s going to like this conversation. 

“Ishihara, you will begin training with Bear and Crane on the nights you don’t have gate duty until further notice. You’ll have a different set of guards on those days as well. You are not to speak to anyone regarding this training, when they’re satisfied with your progress, you will be going on every mission dealing with the Akatsuki foot soldiers. Understood?”

Katsumi’s heart is pounding in her chest and her blood is ice in her veins. She’s being asked to hunt. To hunt legitimate threats. She wants to believe she feels scared, logically she should, but instead she’s well aware what she’s feeling isn’t fear. It’s excitement. Katsumi’s tongue runs across the sharp points of her teeth and she has to resist baring her teeth. 

“Understood, Lady Hokage.” 


	14. Chapter 14

Sensei finds her after her meeting with Tsunade by the ramen stand Naruto loves. He’s eye smiling but from the mild killing intent he leaks for a moment, she’s almost positive he’s noticed the ANBU following her. She can hear their heartbeats pick up, but neither budge from where she knows they are. Brave of them. Sensei’s killing intent is nothing to scoff at, even when it’s only a little bit. 

“Maa, Katsumi-Chan, did you and the pack get along?”

Katsumi blinks up at him, surprised he didn’t mention the ANBU, “Of course. I really like them.”

“Good! Come along, you have a contract to sign. The pack has agreed that the Hatake contract would suit you.” The eye smile is full force as he pushes her in the direction of the training grounds. Clearly keeping himself between her and the ANBU. Katsumi wonders why he’s so bothered by their presence. They aren’t threats. 

Katsumi is excited, regardless. She wants a summoning contract and she loves the pack. Sensei is such a good gift giver. She has to suppress a grin, Tou-San had always said no dogs. Now she gets a whole pack, curtesy of her sensei. Her sensei who has no idea his teammate is alive and a traitor. Kami, he’s going to hate her when he finds out she kept it from him. 

They stop in the middle of Training ground three’s clearing and sit down on the grass. Sensei pulls out the summoning contract and sets it between them. 

“Now, the size of your pack will be dependent on your chakra levels, I estimate you’ll be able to handle five or six Ninken at most. Your pack won’t be the same as mine and you’ll start with one and increase your pack over time. Questions so far?”

Katsumi tilts her head and looks at the contract, “So, how will it work? Will the Ninken be a puppy or..?”

“Yes, it’ll be a puppy. You’ll be responsible for training it. Since the Ninken is tied to your chakra, it’ll grow with you once it catches up to about your age. They’ll be your partner, you’ll have to take care of them as much as they take care of you, especially on missions when you ask them to put themselves at risk for you. If you don’t think you can handle that, you should say so now.”

“I can handle it.” The Ninken will be her pack, the same as sensei is, and Naruto, and Shikamaru and his family. She can handle another pack member. 

“Good! Watch carefully, you’re going to need to preform these hand signs, then cut your thumb. You’re going to need to swipe the blood across the seal and pump chakra into it. If the Ninken you summon approves of you, you’ll sign your name on the contract in blood, okay? It may take more than one try to find a Ninken that wants to work with you, some of them can be pickier than others.”

Katsumi watches as he moves through the hand seals and mimes cutting his own thumb and goes through the motions of summoning. It looks easy enough. She’s excited and nervous as she copies the motions. She wants this to work. She cuts her thumb on one of her incisors and grimaces a little at the taste of her own blood. 

She pushes more chakra than is probably strictly necessary into the scroll, determined to succeed. The puff of smoke that appears clears away quickly to show a plain brown puppy with long legs and short, floppy ears. It stares at her, head tilted for a second and Katsumi feels a bit like she’s being judged. 

“Um, Hi? I’m Katsumi. It’s nice to meet you.” She’s not really sure what she’s supposed to say to the puppy. It’s head tilts even further and it’s mouth opens to let its tongue flop out. It’s clearly a male, but it doesn’t seem like he can speak. 

Sensei eye smiles at her encouragingly, “He’s waiting for you to extend your hand to him. Be polite, Katsumi.”

Oh, alright then. She extends the hand with the blood on it out to the pup. She’s not sure if it really matters either way which hand she offers, but she figures the one she used for the initial summoning is the better choice. 

The puppy seems to think so, because he bounces forward and sniffs her hand with all the enthusiasm she would expect from any puppy.His tail is wagging like mad and it makes his whole body wiggle along with it. Before she knows it, he’s crawling into her lap and trying to lick her face. 

Katsumi giggles as she tries to avoid puppy tongue getting on her mouth, “Do you have a name?”

The puppy stops licking her and looks up at her inquisitively before barking once in her face. 

“Ninken don’t come with names. You’ll have to decide with him what he wants to be called, since he approves of you. Picking a name may take awhile though. Ask him if he’d like you to sign the contract with him.”

“Would you like me to sign the contract?” Katsumi glances back down at the puppy. 

Puppy’s tail wags even harder and he’s practically trying to climb up her chest now in his excitement. 

“Is that a yes?” She glances up at Sensei. 

“That’s a yes. So reopen the cut and spell your full name out right here.” He points to the space directly under his own name, still somehow the bright red of fresh blood, as if it never really dried. 

Katsumi does so, having to work around the puppy who’s refusing to budge from his spot in her lap. She can feel the chakra drain away a bit as soon as her name is spelled out. 

The puppy is practically vibrating in her lap now, like he’s barely restraining himself from exploding. 

“Let me see him,” Sensei reaches out a hand and lifts the puppy out of her lap. Puppy makes a little whine at being removed, and wiggles a bit in Sensei’s grasp. Kakashi-sensei looks over the puppy, looks at his feet and legs, checks his teeth and his ears and nods sightly to himself. 

“He looks like a greyhound. He’s going to be fast, probably won’t be good for combat or scent tracking, at least not without a lot of training. He’ll be a good little watch dog though. And people will be hard pressed to out run him once he has them in his sights. Ambush will probably be a skill of his, especially if you work on it with him. Those eyes of his will be very good at spotting any movement. Not much will get by him.”

Katsumi nods, she can work with that, “Will he be able to speak?” She knows Bull either doesn’t or can’t. 

“Should be able too. Work with him on it, and eventually you’ll be able to understand him even if he never learns to speak.”

Katsumi looks down at the puppy as Sensei sets him back down. He’s calmed down and seems content to watch her. 

“What do you think we should call you? Daisuke?”

The puppy sneezes once, but other than that looks extremely unimpressed. So probably not Daisuke. 

“Ezume?”

Another unimpressed look. 

“Kishi?”

The puppy falls over on his side and sighs. Well. He’s a picky one. 

Sensei claps his hands, “I’ll leave you two to get acquainted today, we’ll start working on making you a team tomorrow. Alright?”

“Hai, Sensei!” Katsumi watches have disappear in a swirl of leaves before turning her attention back to Puppy. 

“Naoko?”

Puppy huffs once. She thinks that’s another no. 

“Taishiro?”

Puppy sits up and stares at her, ears pricked up a little. 

“Is that what you’d like to be called? Taishiro?”

Puppy’s tail starts wagging and he barks at her. 

“Alright. Taishiro it is. Can I carry you?” Katsumi gathers the scroll Sensei left behind and tucks It into her hip pouch. 

She guesses Taishiro likes that idea, because he practically launches himself at her, faster than she was expecting. Katsumi laughs and gathers the squirming puppy in her arms. He’s all legs and energy and doesn’t stop wriggling even as she stands up and starts walking. 

“So I live in the Nara compound. They have deer there, you can’t chase them, okay? They don’t like that. And I hope you like napping, because that’s a favorite hobby in the Nara compound. Oh, and sometimes we’ll share a den with Shikamaru, he’s nice, really lazy though, so don’t expect him to play a lot. He’s a really good nap buddy though.”

Katsumi talks as she walks, and Taishiro wags his tail and makes little woofing sounds back to her, his ears pricked up the entire time she’s speaking. She hopes Yoshino and Shikaku don’t mind a more permanent addition to the household. 

“Oh and don’t worry about the two people following us, that’s their job, you can’t mention them to anyone though, okay? They’re a secret.”

She thinks she hears one of the ANBU snort a little behind her. Whatever. They should be happy she remembered them. 


	15. Chapter 15

Katsumi grins brightly when she presents Taishiro to the Nara’s. Yoshino coos over the pup and immediately wins him over by giving him a slice of the beef she’s making for dinner. Shikaku smiles slightly and scratches him under the chin. Shikamaru just says Taishiro is going to be as troublesome as her. 

Katsumi bounces off to show the Ninken puppy the compound, he needs to know where everything is. She wouldn’t want him to get lost, even if she just has to summon him to fix that. She points everything out to him. Shows him where the deer are fed, shows him where the Nara meeting hall is, and tells him they aren’t allowed there since they aren’t clan. She points out the weapon-master’s home and the research building they have where the medicines the Nara clan makes get developed. Makes sure to warn him against playing in there. 

Taishiro just woofs at her whenever she tells him things, she thinks that means he understands. She hopes it does anyway. She takes him to the little pond the compound has and sets him down. She wants to check and see if he’ll be able to find her in her mist. 

“So I’m going to use a jutsu to make mist okay? You won’t be able to see, but once the mist forms I want you to try and find me. So stay here and don’t watch where I go, alright Taishiro?”

The puppy looks up at her, tail wagging furiously and yips up at her, dancing from foot to foot. Clearly he’s excited to try this. Good, she hopes it won’t be difficult for him. 

She slips away from the puppy, making sure she stops out of sight and crouches down. 

Ox. Snake. Ram. 

The mist comes down hard and fast. She needs to know if he can find her when the mist is thickest. It shouldn’t affect Taishiro’s nose, but Kakashi-Sensei did say Taishiro might not have the strongest sense of smell compared to other breeds of Ninken. She hears him snuffling the ground for a moment before clumsy puppy feet scramble over the ground. Taishiro runs head first into her leg and yips wildly at her. 

Katsumi releases the jutsu and scratches his head, “That was perfect, Taishiro! I use mist a lot, so we’re going to need to be able to work together in it no matter what, you think we can do that?”

Taishiro jumps up and woofs in her face, tail wagging madly. Yeah, she thinks he’ll be perfect. She’ll have to change her Kenjutsu style a bit if she wants him in combat beside her. The Ishihara scrolls should help with that. Those Kenjutsu styles were designed for having a partner after all and if all else fails, she bets Tsume would be willing to help her. 

She walks back to the house, letting Taishiro trot along beside her. If he’s going to be her partner, she won’t be able to carry him around on missions, she’ll need him to be able to keep up once the time comes. The puppy is still clumsy, tripping over too big feet and too long legs. It’s cute and Katsumi can’t wait to see him grow into a Ninken she can have beside her on missions. More than once she watches him suddenly take off running full speed only to fall over himself and sit and whine until she catches up to him. She can see the speed. When he gets bigger she can already tell he’ll be impossible to catch. As long as he outgrows the clumsiness of course. 

He practically passes out that night beside her, She’s honestly impressed at how quickly the pup falls asleep. It’s even faster than Shikamaru can. He stretches out as far as he can, and snores in his sleep. It’s quieter than Pakkun’s snoring though, so Katsumi hardly notices it. 

She does notice when she’s woken by Taishiro’s quiet growling though. It’s high pitched and not very threatening, but it’s enough to wake her immediately. Taishiro is standing up in front of her, doing his best to look as big and threatening as he can. 

Katsumi grabs the Kunai she keeps under her pillow and focuses on the shadowy figure standing in her room. It’s Bear. So training start now she guesses. 

“Taishiro, stand down, it’s one of the guards I mentioned.” She puts a hand on the puppy’s back and pushes slightly, trying to get him to settle down, she doesn’t need him waking the Nara’s. 

“Get dressed, bring any weapons you have, leave the puppy. You have fifteen minutes to be at training ground seven.”

Bear is gone in the next heartbeat. Well, damn, he could have told her where training ground seven even is. She knows it’s one of the restricted ones though. Chuunin and up are allowed to use it, not that she’s very bothered with it. 

Fifteen minutes to get ready and find a training ground she’s never been to. Great. She scrambles to get dressed and strap her swords to her back. “Taishiro, stay here, okay? I’ll be back before morning, we’ll train together tomorrow, I promise.”

Katsumi pauses long enough to confirm he’s laying down again, his dark eyes glittering in what little moonlight the window lets in. Satisfied he’s going to be fine, she takes off. The problem with the training grounds is just because they’re numbered doesn’t mean they’re in order. Training ground three is closest to training ground six, for example. It’s stupid and Katsumi resents whoever came up with the numbering system. 

She’s ten minutes late when she finally finds the right training ground, well out of the village center, closer to the wall of the village, where there’s no housing or development of any kind. Just thick forests. The training ground is smaller than the others and looks like someone dug out a giant hole in the ground. It’s rocky and the ground is unsteady under her feet and she needs to use chakra to keep from sliding down the incline. There’s huge rocks and rubble scattered through it, with fallen trees everywhere too. It looks like a massive explosion took place here and the village just turned it into a training ground instead of fixing it. 

“You’re late,” Crane’s monotone voice somehow manages to sound disapproving. 

“Couldn’t find the training ground.” 

“Isn’t Hatake teaching you to track?” Bear asks her. 

Katsumi’s face colors in embarrassment, she’d forgotten she could just follow Bear’s scent to the training ground. Damn. 

“Mistakes like that can be the reason a mission fails or a life is lost. Do not do it again.” Crane admonishes her. 

“I understand. It won’t happen again.” Katsumi doesn’t apologize, she knows apologizing isn’t what they are looking for. They want her to Rectify the mistake, not ask forgiveness for it. 

“We will begin now. You will spar with each of us, use any skill you have available to you. It is over when you lose.” Bear steps towards her as he speaks and based on the way he said “when” she knows this is going to be unpleasant. 

No one calls start, one moment Bear is standing a few meters away, the next he’s directly in front of her, a Kunai coming swinging directly towards her midsection. Shit. She barely manages to twist to the side and take a graze to her waist instead of a stab to her diaphragm. Katsumi snarls and doesn’t hesitate to form her chakra claws and drop down, aiming a vicious slice towards his Achilles’ tendon. Bear just aims a brutal kick to her head as he dodges her strike.She hisses as she dodges, manages to put just enough distance between them to buy her a few seconds to flick through the handseals for her water shrapnel jutsu. 

Bear manages to get out of range at the last second and retaliates with a jutsu of his own. Katsumi barely manages to get out of the way of hundreds of flaming needles. She still gets a nasty burn across her cheek and knows it’s probably going to scar. Bear certainly isn’t playing around. He’s on her again before she can finish drawing her Wakizashi, forces her to dodge a punch to the jaw. She manages to find her feet finally and let’s her muscle memory take over with the Wakizashi. 

The blade of a katana meets her blade as she aims a strike for his right arm. Oh, she forgot ANBU carries swords. Well, this is something she’s comfortable with. It becomes a vicious dance, even more so when she manages to pull her own Katana out. When Crane finally joins in, she knows she’s screwed. In a Kenjutsu fight, she knows she can hold her own against at least one person at a time, but two people? She can only do that with her mist, and she can’t pause long enough to preform the jutsu for it. 

Crane fights differently than Bear. Flowing around her like water, instead of the overwhelming viciousness Bear favors. She’s not expecting a genjutsu mid fight though. She can’t even pinpoint when it began, but she’s certain Crane did it. She’s not prepared to see Sensei standing in front of her, hatred clear as day in his one visible eye. 

“Liar.” He hisses at her as lightning begins to crackle in his hand, “Traitor.”

Katsumi stares in horror at the scene. Too startled and upset by it to remember to flare her chakra. She watches him form the Chidori in his hand, hears the screaming sound of birds it makes. Stands there and waits for it to run her through. 

She’s knocked out of the genjutsu by a solid punch to the gut, the pain breaking the genjutsu for her as she falls to the ground. She lies there, stunned for a moment and trying to catch her breath. Both ANBU stare down at her. 

“Stand up, you lost.” Bear breaks the silence. 

Katsumi scrambles to her feet, panting a little and trying not to grab her stomach. That last punch was absolutely brutal. Bear clearly wasn’t concerned about going easy on her. 

“You’re slower than you should be. You guard your right side too much. It makes it obvious you had a previous injury. You try to fight like someone much larger and stronger. You’re too susceptible to genjutsu, and you don’t take full advantage when you have the upper hand. You favor mid to close combat, and don’t seem capable of long range battle.” Crane’s voice is utterly monotone as he list out her flaws. 

“These are flaws we will do away with.” Bear is circling her now. It makes her feel like prey. 

“First, your Taijutsu style. It’s good, but it’s better suited for someone physically larger and stronger than you. You will likely never be the bigger person in a fight. This means you will lose whenever you use that style. You need to be faster and more agile than your opponent. You need to use their size and their momentum against them. We will start there tonight.” Bear’s voice is soft as he breaks this down for her. 

Crane takes her through the motions of the new style. It involves less strikes and more dodges. More flips and twists. It requires a lot more agility than the other one. It’s less straightforward. As much about wearing an opponent down and staying unpredictable as it is about throwing them on their ass by turning their own attacks against them. Crane encourages using her elbows for strikes, rather than punching. Makes her figure out how to strike low on the legs to bring someone down to her height to lay them out. 

Over and over she goes through the motions in between much slower spars with Bear to get a feel for applying them. It’s painful and hard and she struggles to make the switch, but until she manages to use each attack properly in a spar, Crane won’t let her stop. There is no praise when she does well, no breaks or pauses either, only corrections when she does poorly. Not getting punched in the face by Bear is the reward, she supposes. 

When she finally manages to use Bear’s own momentum to send him flying over her head, Crane calls for an end to the training, “That’s enough for tonight. We’ll continue at a later date. Ishihara, continue practicing those movements. We will see if you’ve improved any next time.”

Katsumi bows to them in thanks and heads home. She nearly cries when she sees the time. Five in the morning. She has to be at training ground three at seven to train with Kakashi-sensei. And she has to hide the burn on her face. Kami. Her new teachers are going to be the death of her. At least Taishiro is happy to see her when she slips back inside her room and crawls into bed. His warm little body presses up between her head and shoulder as he uses her neck for a pillow. Katsumi definitely loves him already. He doesn’t torture her the way her Sensei’s do. 


	16. Chapter 16

The days and weeks blur together for Katsumi. She’s so busy with Kakashi-Sensei’s training and working with Taishiro and getting beaten into improvement by Bear and Crane and weekly mind walks with Inoichi, that she hardly notices when the genin go to Suna for the Chuunin exams. Hardly notices that Shikamaru goes there too to help proctor it. She misses her own birthday entirely and comes home in between training sessions to find a pile of gifts on her bed. Yukatas and kimonos and Haoris from Yoshino, new weapons from Shikaku, Dog treats for Taishiro, probably courtesy of Shikamaru that he left for her before leaving. She’s constantly exhausted and sore all over, more than once falls asleep during gate duty, luckily Hayase doesn’t mind that she does. He’s done it enough times before that he can’t get mad at her for it. 

Taishiro grows rapidly, faster than a normal dog. Sensei assures her it’s normal, that he’ll stop once he’s the equivalent of her age and will slow down to match her. Having a constant source of chakra from her helps it along, apparently.Taishiro becomes amazing at the stealth Katsumi likes. Before she knows it he’s grown out of the clumsiness of puppyhood and moves with all the self assurance and grace she’d hoped he’d develop. He still doesn’t talk, but that’s fine. They work well together anyway. He’s agile and moves under and around her swords without a problem, hardly needs a word from her to know what she wants him to do. 

Tracking wise, he’s no Pakkun, but he’s good enough. His eyes combined with her hearing are more than enough to make up for their average senses of smell. His speed is terrifying too. There’s almost no build up between his walk and his sprint. Certainly no time to prepare for a face full of furious Ninken. Katsumi learns to adjust her water shrapnel to accommodate him so it’s safe for him to be near her when she uses it. He grows long and lean and tall, a deep chest and long neck. He’s beautiful, and when they aren’t training prefers to sleep the days away. A Nara in dog form. She loves it. 

Teaching him to use chakra is more difficult. He doesn’t take to water walking the way she did, and doesn’t like heights anymore than she does. She has to coax him up trees and bribe him with food for the water walking. He loves using chakra to increase his speed though. If she thought he was fast before, he’s little more than a tan blur now when he moves at top speed. Gai-San would adore him. 

Sensei eye smiles at them both whenever they succeed at working together. More than once she’s watched Taishiro manage to knock him over when he’s been reading porn. Eighty pounds of muscle flying full speed into a person tends to do that. That gets him a treat from Katsumi every time. 

Training with Bear and Crane is an entirely different matter. They’re harsh on her and don’t accept anything less than absolute perfection. Crane places her under genjutsu after genjutsu until she takes little more than a heart beat to break them. Every time she tries to protect her right side too much, Bear attacks her left side until she drops that habit altogether. They take her through every training ground Konoha has, until she can fight well no matter what terrain they have her one. 

They make her spar until she’s barely able to move, then they make her blow through Chakra like she’s Naruto, Bear making her learn new jutsu, all fire style despite the fact she’s water natured. It’s necessary, if she wants to be a Jounin, to be proficient with three chakra natures, but it is so difficult. She manages though. Learns to convert water chakra into fire chakra, figures out how to make her water shrapnel into balls of Fire exploding out towards someone. Learns to suck the water out of the terrain around her from Crane, and ignite an entire field of dry grass with a single small fiery breath. 

She learns to cast the genjutsu Crane used on her the first night. A basic, simple one that forces a person to witness their worst fears. Dangerous for the viewer solely due to the fact that people often can’t think about breaking out of it when they see their worst fears come to life. It makes her feel a bit slimy to do so, but she uses killing intent already, this is just a bit more in your face, really. 

Sensei never comments on the injuries she shows up with, never pushes for information when she demonstrates a new move or jutsu he hasn’t taught her. Just narrows his eyes slightly and adjusts his lessons accordingly. Ups the difficulty of their spars, teaches her the shushin finally, has her work on the mouth of the serpent jutsu until she passes out. Reduces their training to five days a week instead of six. 

Katsumi ends up in the hospital for chakra exhaustion four times in as many weeks. The Iryonin threaten to have her medically barred from training if she shows up a fifth time. This effectively ends any training she does on her own. She ends up taking at least two soldier pills a day when she trains with both the ANBU and Kakashi-sensei to get through through the day without collapsing. Her free time becomes filled with little more than sleeping and eating. She’s too tired to even dream anymore. Taishiro takes to whining and biting her clothes to try and keep from from going to her nighttime training. 

Shikaku clearly knows she’s burning out, and her shifts on gate duty are reduced by two hours a night. Katsumi nearly cries tears of joy when she sees that. Eight extra hours of sleep a week. Kami, she needed that. Yoshino frets over her constantly. The injuries and chakra exhaustion clearly impossible to hide. More than once she hears Yoshino arguing with Shikaku over it, but she doesn’t have the energy to augment her hearing enough to listen. Doesn’t really care to either, she’s under orders from Lady Hokage. There’s nothing she can do to slow anything down. 

She’s getting thinner too. She’s already in a growth spurt, but with all the added training and stress, the baby fat that was left on her cheeks melts away entirely. She ends up all bones and muscles and sharp angles. If she’s supposed to develop curves, she clearly hasn’t. She can see where they would be, but there’s just not enough body fat left to show them. For the first time she feels self conscious. Ino and Sakura have both been getting curvier and taller and looking more like women than little girls. Katsumi is even leaner than Taishiro. Her breasts are even smaller than Sakura’s and she looks more like a boy with long hair. No matter how much she eats she’s always hungry now too, but she never manages to eat enough to make up for the calories burnt off during her training sessions. 

She’s covered in scars and cuts and bruises now too. The scars on her shoulder may be the most prominent, and many of the ones on her arms are from when she was first learning Kenjutsu as a small child, but her abdomen and back are littered in cuts too. Even with the mesh armor she wears, Bear still manages to leave huge cuts and bruises all over her. The burn on her cheek has long since scarred over, leaving a red streak across the edge of her cheek bone. Overall, she’s starting to look like she’s spent a lifetime on the frontlines of a war. 

Inoichi’s mind walks don’t help matters either. The migraines caused by it only makes it harder for her to function. They learn a lot though. Learn that Uchiha Obito will wait to attack Konoha until Uchiha Itachi is dead. They learn the strengths and weaknesses of the foot soldiers of the Akatsuki. They learn Zetsu has been controlling events throughout history to get to the point of unleashing his mother. They learn of the Giant’s graveyard and the rinnegan. They witness Inoichi and Shikaku’s deaths too. That’s what ended the most recent session. Inoichi has looked pale and withdrawn when he’d seen that and ushered her out the door quicker than normal. 

When the Chuunin exams finally end, she learns Naruto had met up with Choji and Ino to be their third member for it. That Jiraiya has been teaching him fuinjutsu extensively. He didn’t get promoted though. Ino, Neji, and Aburame were the only ones. Katsumi spares a moment to be thrilled she’s not considered a rookie Chuunin anymore. That is until she learns she now has border patrol instead of gate duty. 

It’s not terrible. Dull and involves a lot of running up and down the border like dogs pacing a fence, but it’s a reprieve. One week on, one week off. For an entire week at a time, all she has to do it run up and down a border and occasionally help her teammates kill bandits and D-rank nukenin who try to cross into Fire Country. Taishiro certainly enjoys it. He gets to run until it’s time to stop at an outpost for the night, while another team handles the night shift. Those weeks become precious recovery time for her. Even with all the running it feels like a vacation compared to the training she has in the village. 

Shikamaru notices immediately that she looks terrible when he gets back from Suna. Later than the others due to the paperwork involved in helping run the exams. Starts watching her like she’s on suicide watch. Drags her down onto beds and couches and grass to make her nap when he does. Argues with her more than once, because it’s clear she’s overworked and withering away and she can’t tell him why she’s doing it to herself. The first time she bursts into tears in front of him, Taishiro snaps at Shikamaru like it’s his fault she’s so stressed. Shikamaru stops fighting with her over it after that. Just gets a look in his eyes that tells her he’s going to find out the answers on his own and deal with the problem his own way. 

It takes four months before the ANBU are satisfied with her progress and the training draws to an end. Not before she’s thrown into interrogation resistance training though. That’s the worst part of the whole thing. Morino Ibiki personally takes her through it. It’s actual hell. He waterboards her and demands she tell him the names of her fictional teammates. She lies and he doesn’t let her sleep anymore. He asks again and she lies again and she’s put under a genjutsu that makes it feel like she’s burning alive. He asks and she lies and she suffers for it. She’s lost all track of time by the time she breaks. She’s immediately released from her restraints and give food and water. Inoichi comes in personally to walk her through decompressing from it all and to check her mental status. She learns she managed thirty-one hours. Extremely good for someone’s first time under going it. Apparently thirty-seven hours is considered the longest someone can feasibly last. Katsumi finally gets to rest. No more ANBU training or Torture resistance for a month. Katsumi actually cries from happiness at that. 

Sensei’s training sessions don’t stop, but she can manage them now. With the lack of extra chakra drain, she’s able to learn the higher level water style jutsu in the Ishihara scrolls. Something Sensei is happy to help her with. She manages master one that creates a tsunami out of any body of water she has available as long as it’s the size of a medium pond. Sensei teaches her the Water clone jutsu too. She can only make three maximum, but having something more than a basic clone is nice. 

As the month progresses, she can feel herself putting weight on a bit more. Not a lot, but there’s some fat on her hips now. No breasts though. She figures that’s okay, the fact she doesn’t look quite as much like a boy is enough for her. Shikamaru certainly seems pleased that she isn’t underweight and exhausted looking anymore. Yoshino argues less with Shikaku about it too, just humming and giving her much larger portions during meals than everyone else. Ignoring her entirely if she says she doesn’t want seconds and filling the plate anyway. 

Taishiro finally speaks at the end of her month reprieve. She’s sharpening her Wakizashi when he ambles over to stare at her, Dark eyes regarding her seriously, “No more Mask people. Bad for Katsumi.”

Katsumi nearly drops her sword in shock, she’d figured he’d be like Bull and never speak. She’d accepted that months ago. 

“Taishiro, I have to obey Lady Hokage, she’s alpha. If she wants me to train with Crane and Bear some more, I have to.”

Taishiro bares his teeth a bit, “Alpha bad. Not taking care of pack.”

Katsumi blinks, “Her pack is the whole village, if it’s good for the village, she has to do it, even if it hurts one person.”

Taishiro snaps his teeth mutinously, “Don’t like it. Katsumi sick and tired and sad with Masks’ work.”

“It was just a lot of work and effort is all. That part is over now, okay? It won’t be so intense anymore.”

He stretches out beside her with a huff, “Taishiro bites next Mask person.”

That makes her smile, “No biting the ANBU without permission. It’s rude.”

“Mask people rude.”


	17. Chapter 17

When Tsunade finally calls her back to her office, Taishiro insists on going with her. He sticks to her side like glue and peels his lips back to show his teeth whenever someone gets near them. Especially once they reach the Tower. His hackles raise up and he’s stiff legged as he walks beside her, clearly daring someone to try and test him. Katsumi dreads the day he starts spitting out curse words, she’s sure he’ll use them liberally. 

Tsunade’s at her desk, leaning back in her chair when Katsumi enters the office. She doesn’t look happy and Katsumi wonders what she did. 

“Ishihara, come here. And tell your Ninken to stand down. I’m not going to hurt you.”

Taishiro sneezes a little at that, something she’s learned he does when he disagrees with something. Regardless, she places a hand on his head and shoots him a warning look. Biting Lady Hokage is bad. 

Katsumi steps forward to stand closer to the desk. She’s not sure what Lady Hokage wants, but it can’t be worse than the training with the ANBU. Even if she feels mostly recovered from it, and her skill set has been expanded far more than she expected it to be, she’d prefer not to repeat it. 

“Lady Hokage?”

Tsunade stands up and walks around the desk to look her over critically. She circles her once slowly, earning a quiet growl from where Taishiro is standing. 

“I’m going to give you a full physical. I’ve been hearing the past few months have been too much for you. I need to confirm, personally, you’re going to be physically able to handle the missions. The reports Mention weight loss, insomnia, various injuries, and multiple trips to the hospital for chakra exhaustion. Is there anything else you’ve noticed?”

Katsumi squints slightly as she thinks. Finally she shakes her head, “I think that covers it.”

“Good. Sit down on the desk. It’ll be easier. I need you to remove your Flak jacket and outer shirt. The mesh armor should be fine.” 

Katsumi obeys wordlessly and watches as Tsunade passes glowing hands over her, eyebrows furrowed and mouth twisted into a frown. It doesn’t take her long. 

“You can get dressed again. No training for at least a month. No missions either. Rest and recovery only. I’ll have the Akimichi’s send you a diet plan, your body fat percentage is dangerously low. I’ll make you an appointment with the plastics department of the hospital to see about reducing the appearance of your scars, I’ll make sure Shikaku brings you the appointment time. I’d like to apologize, I made a mistake with the training. There wasn’t enough oversight and you suffered for it. In the future, if there’s a problem like this again, I’d like for you to speak up. It can be rectified. I don’t like my Shinobi suffering unnecessarily.”

Katsumi tilts her head a little, there wasn’t oversight of her training? Did Bear and Crane just get free rein to do whatever they wanted? That explains a lot. 

“Yes, Lady Hokage, what about the missions?” Katsumi is going to lose it if she went through all that training and gets barred from taking the exact missions she was training for. 

“The details are still being worked out. Don’t expect those to start for at least two more months.” Lady Hokage looks worn out, like this meeting has taken more out of her than it has Katsumi. 

“Yes, Lady Hokage.”

“Dismissed. And remember, No training. Even with Hatake. If you really need something to do, you can take either a missions desk job or help in the academy for now. I won’t bar you from those, though I’d prefer you’d treat the next month like a vacation instead.”

Taishiro is practically bouncing in excitement as Katsumi bows in acknowledgement and Shushins out the window. Taishiro loves it when she does that because then he gets to run full tilt to keep up. They’ve gotten good at jumping over the roof tops like other shinobi, though they don’t do it as often. Taishiro certainly likes it, so Katsumi tries to do it more. 

With a month of no missions or training in front of her, Katsumi is at a loss for what to do. From what Tsunade said, food and sleep will probably be at the top of the list with doctor appointments for some variety. Katsumi has no idea what she’s expected to do beyond that. So she goes to Yoshino. She always wants her to take a break, She should have plenty of ideas. 

Yoshino beams happily when she asks about it and immediately tells her to go change into one of the more casual yukatas she gifted her for her birthday. No hiding weapons in it is hurriedly added to the instructions. Katsumi obeys and ends up in a light blue yukata. Taishiro sniffs it warily and she wants to laugh because she’s ever actually worn one and Taishiro has never seen her in one. 

“Smells different. No blood. No metal. Flowery. Not like Katsumi.” Is his verdict. 

“What? Do you want me to stab someone in it? Would that help?” Knowing him, he’ll say yes. 

Taishiro stretches his long, long legs out in front of him and yawns, “Smell more like Katsumi then.”

She laughs at that and pats his head, “Yoshino says no weapons in the sleeves. So can’t do that.”

“Biting works.” 

Yes it does. Katsumi can’t argue that one. But she thinks Yoshino would disapprove of her biting someone. Yoshino beams even more when she come out in the Yukata. Before Katsumi can even say a word, the woman is fussing over her hair, pulling it out of its normal ponytail and brushing it out until it’s stick straight and shiny. 

“Perfect. You can come with me to go shopping. I have groceries I need to buy and while we shop, you can tell me why Shikaku got a letter from some noble lady talking about a suitor she thinks you should meet.”

Katsumi stifles a curse as they walk out of the house and down the road. She’d figured Ichika-Sama would forget about that immediately. Taishiro pipes up, “Katsumi gets mate?”

“No, Katsumi doesn’t get a mate, she’s too young.” Yoshino is quick to respond. 

“No pups?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Um. Ichika-Sama is a noble I had to escort. She mentioned helping me find a husband? I didn’t think she was serious.” Katsumi is going to die of embarrassment. 

“Nobility, I swear. Well, Shikaku wrote her back to inform her that her help won’t be needed, that we’ve already found you a suitable husband. A complete lie of course, we wouldn’t arrange a marriage for you, but that should keep her from continuing on with it.” Yoshino smiles reassuringly. 

“Oh, um, thank you.” Katsumi has no idea how to respond to any of this. She hasn’t even begun contemplating marriage. There’s just so many other things to worry about and years before anyone expects her to settle down. Except, apparently, Taishiro who has no real concept of why people don’t get mates as soon as they’re old enough to make babies.

“Of course, sweetheart. No reason for you to have to deal with silly things like that. Now how about tomorrow we go get pedicures? I think you’d enjoy a nice spa day.”

And that’s how she passes the month. Near daily outings with Yoshino to wherever she thinks they should go that day. The weekly sessions with Inoichi are coming to a close, her headaches are beginning to subside with them. There’s only one thing left that they need to go through on the list: Danzo’s arm. That one is the source of a lot of debate between Tsunade and Shikaku, apparently. Shikaku wants to find that information out now, while Tsunade wants to focus on the larger threats outside the village first and deal with any corruption later. 

Katsumi doesn’t worry about that though. They’ll deal with it in time. She focuses on regaining the weight she lost during the training. The Diet the Akimichi’s put her on works wonders. She has no idea what exactly it’s designed to do aside from build up her weight, but she sees noticeable improvement in the amount of body fat she has. It’s enough that she actually starts developing the curves the other Kunoichi have. She even starts seeing her breast develop a little. It’s weird, but it’s a sign she’s getting healthier so she’s happy with it. Yoshino teachers her how to use bandages for binding them so they don’t move around too much when she’s training or on missions. It’s a bit unnecessary right now, they’re still nearly nonexistent, but it’s good to know. 

Shikamaru comes with her to every appointment she has with the iryonin about the scar reduction. They manage to erase a handful of them entirely, but most can only be minimized to a certain extent. The one on her face is still noticeable, though it’s thinner than it was before, and closer to a pink than red now. Katsumi doesn’t mind, its better than it was and Shikamaru’s insistence on buying random gifts that he thinks she’d enjoy afterwards acts as a decent enough reward for going at all. She doesn’t hate the hospital as much as her Sensei, but she certainly doesn’t like it. Taishiro isn’t allowed inside when she goes. 

Taishiro and Shikamaru are interesting to watch. When she plays shogi against him in the evening, Taishiro watches his every move and makes little comments out of no where. Katsumi’s not entirely sure what he’s trying to achieve but it’s funny. 

“Shikamaru slow. Think fast.” 

Shikamaru doesn’t even twitch at the comment as she watches him plan out his next move. 

“Shikamaru old man. Creaks when moves.” 

Shikamaru twitches slightly as Taishiro pipes up when he finally makes a move. She’s not even sure Taishiro knows what they’re doing, but he clearly enjoys heckling her friend. 

“Katsumi faster. Shikamaru needs to keep up.”

Katsumi grins as she moves her piece into place. Taishiro is stretched out on the ground beside the board, long nose resting on his paws as he watches. 

“Shikamaru worse than cat. Sits all day.”

“You sleep even more than I do, so you can’t say anything.” Shikamaru shoots the hound an baleful glare. 

Taishiro doesn’t seem to care that Shikamaru is completely accurate, he just huffs a little and says, “Not alpha, can sleep. Baby alphas can’t.”

“Baby alpha?” Shikamaru eyes Taishiro likes he doesn’t want to know what that even means. 

“Baby alpha. Shikamaru. Must sleep less or bad alpha and no mate.”

Katsumi closes her eyes and prays for patience, because of course Taishiro’s logic comes back to that. Ever since hearing about Ichika-Sama trying to arrange a marriage for her, he’s been fascinated by the idea. 

“Taishiro. Hush now.” Katsumi’s scratches him on the hip and smiles at him. He doesn’t seem to be understanding the concept of tact and even after multiple attempts to teach him, he still says whatever comes to mind. 

Kakashi-sensei checks up on her repeatedly during the month, awkwardly inquiring about how she is and if she’s following the rules Tsunade gave her. More than once she thinks he’s searching for something when he looks her over, but she isn’t sure what it is. He seems tense though, like he’s waiting for something bad to happen. Katsumi doesn’t like it. 

The month passes slowly, and by the end of it, she’s practically itching to get back to work now that she has the energy to. When she’s called back to Tsunade’s office, there’s a painted mask waiting for her on the desk and Tsunade’s expression is grim.

Katsumi stares at the mask and knows exactly where this is heading. 


	18. Chapter 18

Fox. She’s Fox now. The mask absolutely no one wants since the Kyuubi attack. The mask that was her mother’s before her. Katsumi has no idea how to feel about that. So she decides not to feel anything about it at all. It’s not kaa-san’s mask anymore. It’s hers. It’s her mask and her uniform and her brand new, shiny tattoo on her shoulder. She’s not her mother, she won’t die behind this mask. She’s not her father either, she won’t live behind it like he does. Wolf. Her father is Wolf apparently. Has been her whole life. Katsumi actually broke down laughing when she found out. Of course he’s ANBU. Of course her mother was too. It’s like she was bred for it. 

It’s just temporary though. Only until all threats in her memories are neutralized. Then Fox is finished unless she decides to stay. Fox is just a requirement for those missions, to protect her identity from those threats. Fox won’t become Katsumi the way Wolf became her father. It’s just temporary. 

The team created for the missions is larger than a standard squad. Twelve members total including her. Designed to rotate members through the missions based on their skill sets. That’s not even counting the ANBU that have been tasked with locating the Akatsuki members. She doesn’t even want to know how many are doing that. None of the assault team will be sent out yet. One month left to prepare while the details of the first mission are finalized. Deidara and Sasori are the first targets. Katsumi thinks of the puppets and clay explosives in her memories and already knows not everyone on the first mission will make it home alive. 

Taishiro won’t be running with her on these missions, she can summon him, but he can’t stay with her at all times. Too easy to identify her that way. He’d snapped and snarled and raged over it, but accepted in the end. Not without making snide comments about her becoming one of the “mask people” though. 

The next month is for the team to learn to work together. To get to know each other’s habits and practice the strategies Tactics came up with for combating Sasori and Deidara’s abilities. It’s also time for Katsumi to learn the ins and outs of being ANBU. 

Headquarters is built into the mountain the Hokage’s’ faces are on. It’s got its own training rooms in it and an Arena, sealed and designed to keep jutsu from hitting any Spectators in the fifth sublevel. According to Crow, one of the veteran ANBU on her new team, it’s the equivalent of an auction block. Demonstrate your skills and divisions and squads will decide if you’re a good fit for them. If she stays on after their missions are done, she’ll be down there. HQ is multilevel too. Five floors in total. With a cafeteria in the center floor and sparse, dorm like rooms everyone is assigned on sublevels two and three along with communal showers and restrooms. Some ANBU live here full time apparently. Mostly the ones with nothing waiting for them when they take their masks off or the ones deemed too unstable to live among the general population. Her room is on the third sub level, room three-eight-one. Snake is her neighbor to her left. A woman with a soft voice and harsh words that specializes in sabatoge. To her right is Dog, she hasn’t met him yet though. Apparently, Dog is just out of retirement and only stays here immediately following a mission anyway. 

The first sublevel is medical, since active ANBU can’t go to the hospital for injuries. Something about safety protocols. The ANBU head’s office and the offices of every division head are located on the fourth sublevel. Missions are planned out in sealed rooms there too. 

There’s also training grounds only available to ANBU. One is a mass of maze like caverns they can only access from the fifth sublevel. One is on the edge of the village that makes training ground forty-four look enjoyable. Another is an abandoned housing development from before the second shinobi war, left to rot and found use becoming a training ground for the ANBU sometime after the third shinobi war. 

The ANBU headquarters are nicer than she expected them to be, though it’s as dark as everyone thinks it is and twice as menacing to be in. Even with it clearly being kept hospital clean, it reeks of blood. Katsumi tries not to think about how it reminds her of her father the night of the Uchiha massacre. 

Crow takes it upon himself to teach her the ANBU handsigns. Simpler and with less words than the Konoha standard. Designed for efficiency and expects a person to not need more instruction than the handsigns offer. He’s a kinder teacher than Crane and Bear were. Slowly taking her through each handsign until he’s satisfied that she can preform them flawlessly and understand them with a glance. 

Learning to work with her new comrades is straightforward enough. There’s no learning new skills, only working to maximize the efficiency of them by using each other to cover weakness and enhance strength. She works best with Crow, Hyena, and Stag as her teammates. Crow’s a genjutsu specialist and so won’t be going on the mission after Deidara and Sasori, but it’s easy to work with him all the same. Hyena is a fun one. Unpredictable and unrelenting in a fight, he makes her think almost of a Naruto turned inside out, twisted up into someone who finds humor in eviscerating a person. He encourages her bloodlust whenever she displays it, laughing wildly whenever blood is drawn in their spars. Stag is much, much calmer than Hyena. Terribly proficient with wind jutsu, he hardly ever needs both hands to form the seals for jutsu. More than once a Kenjutsu spar against Stag ends when he takes one hand off his sword to send a cutting wind straight at her. 

It’s all close combat to face Sasori and Deidara. That’s the main plan. Deidara’s a long distance fighter from her memories, while Sasori has his heart in a puppet to worry about. They’re concerned about Sasori’s puppets though. They have to be able to cut the chakra strings used to control them. The solution is Owl. A Hyuuga apparently. His byakugan is vital for their plan to work. Katsumi doesn’t like Owl quite as much as Hyena or Stag, but he’s a good teammate, and seems to be a perfectionist. Something she thinks will work well for dealing with Sasori. 

Owl, Hyena, and Fox with Stag as captain. The first of the three missions to neutralize the foot soldiers. Then onto the missions to end The puppet bodies, ending with Konan and Nagato. The only one spared is to be Uchiha Itachi, until Obito is dealt with at least. Katsumi is grimly amused that she’ll be assisting in killing Sasuke’s brother. She thinks if he hadn’t gone and defected he could have eventually made it to this point with her, gotten his shot at revenge that he wanted so badly. Too bad the missions are classified, she would have a reason to visit him if she could tell him about it. 

Shikaku clearly knows she’s ANBU now. When she goes home after her first day with them, he stares at her seriously for a very long time, and waits until Yoshino and Shikamaru are out of earshot to place a hand on her shoulder, and say, low and solemn, “You aren’t the mask, Katsumi. Just remember that.” 

Taishiro spends an hour just smelling the site of the ANBU tattoo, ears pulled back and eyes tight. Eventually he flops down beside her on the bed and huffs, “Katsumi not rude mask person. Just Katsumi.”

The day she meets Dog in ANBU headquarters, she looks up at the painted dog mask for a moment and sniffs the air. Sensei. He holds himself differently. There’s no slouching, and he seems even taller because of it. No porn in sight either. It’s jarring to only recognize him by his scent. Even hair color isn’t enough to identify him, silver hair isn’t uncommon in Konoha. Even his voice is different. Harsher, closer to a growl than she’s ever heard it. He drags her into the cavernous training ground and they spar in the pitch black. Scent and sound the only ways to find each other. When it’s over, he ruffles her hair once, in the dark where no one can see and murmurs, “Well done, little hunting hound. Just keep moving, like you always say, yes?”

Katsumi blinks up through the eye holes of her mask in the direction of his voice. Sensei sounds resigned, but proud in a tired sort of way. She responds just as quietly, “Yes, Just keep moving.”


	19. Chapter 19

Over the course of the month, Katsumi gets to know Fox. Gets used to being a different person. ANBU are cold at best and vicious at worst. Katsumi finds its easy enough to fall into that same behavior. She learns Fox is a bit more brutal than she is. Aims for lethal strikes before ever thinking of incapacitating first.Fox let’s the darker parts of her head rule a bit more, using Tsume’s lessons to keep her head just enough to think. 

She gets the feeling Dog— because he’s not her sensei here— doesn’t like her when she’s Fox instead of Katsumi. That’s fine though. Fox doesn’t exist to be liked. She exists to do a job and do it well. And she does. She falls into step with the ANBU going on the first mission with her easily enough even as the tension mounts the closer they get to the mission’s start. There’s a reason the targets are S-rank threats separately. Together it’s like facinga two-man army. 

The most recent intel on the pair reports them heading towards a village on the border between the land of rivers and the land of fire. Based on the fact the Akatsuki raise money by taking missions at lower rates than Hidden villages, they’re likely going to be there for at least a few days. The mission gets bumped up by a few days In response and the night before, Shikamaru stands in the doorway of her bedroom and watches her reapply the anticoagulant poison to her swords, in case Deidara hasn’t built an immunity up to the poisons his partner favors. 

“I’m not going to ask about the mission you’re going on. If you were able to discuss it, I know you would have mentioned it. Just try to come back, alright?” Shikamaru’s gaze is sharp and watchful and she knows he’s guessed what her new night job is. 

“Of course, I’ll do my best. How’d you know I’m going on a mission?” She knows she hasn’t mentioned it. She can’t tell anyone she’s going on one, but she is allowed to confirm it if they guess. 

“You only reapply the poison to your swords before missions. And Taishiro has been pacing all day.” Shikamaru shrugs slightly as he explains it. Like it’s obvious. 

“I see. Got any other advice for me other than try to come back?” Katsumi smiles at him, trying to keep the mood light. 

“Don’t get impaled by another arrow, troublesome woman.” Shikamaru pushes off of the door frame and comes over to sprawl out over her bed, hands behind his head. He’s gotten taller. Even with her growth spurt, she still only comes up to mid chest on him. His voice is growing deeper too, it’s strange to realize that they’re beginning to leave childhood behind altogether. In a few years, she probably won’t even be able to remember what he looks like now. 

Taishiro takes one look at Shikamaru stretched out on the bed in his spot and immediately launches himself onto the Nara’s chest. Katsumi laughs at the sound of the air being knocked out of Shikamaru’s lungs. The pair always disagree over who gets what spot to relax in.

They settle back down and Katsumi returns to checking over the rest of her weapons. Making sure everything is properly balanced and sharp enough to cut skin with minimal pressure. She needs everything to work in perfect condition for this mission. One mistake and she and her team could die. 

She can feel Shikamaru playing with her ponytail lazily. Gentle tugs on the end of it in between twisting the strands around his fingers, there’s no ninja wire in it yet, so he doesn’t have to watch for that. 

“I’m helping with the next Chuunin exams again. Have anyone you want me to bet on for you?”

Katsumi blinks in surprise and can’t believe it’s been a year since their promotion. Two Chuunin exams ago. Wow. 

“Naruto and Kiba if they’re entering, six hundred ryos each.” She knows Naruto’s travels only pause long enough for the exams. He was in the Suna one last time. 

“Will do. I’ll tell you now you’re gonna lose money on Kiba for sure though. Kid is a hothead.”

“Maybe, but Inuzuka’s know teamwork. He’s a solid choice if he doesn’t let himself get angry.”

“We’ll see. You should get ready to sleep. You’ll want as much energy as you can get for your mission.” Shikamaru yawns as if to emphasize the point and rolls over onto his side, taking Taishiro with him. 

“Baby Alpha right. Sleep then hunt.” Taishiro’s tail thumps across the mattress happily. The hound is always thrilled about bedtime. 

Katsumi laughs at the laziness of her boys. They might bicker with each other but when it comes to sleep they’re in agreement almost always. She has to be at HQ ready to go by three in the morning. Even knowing that and laying down between the pair to try and rest beforehand, sleep doesn’t come easy. Katsumi has to suppress her nerves. Her first mission as Fox and the first substantial move against the Akatsuki and Tobi. This cannot fail. Whatever the cost it has to succeed. 

She wakes from an uneasy sleep, and gathers her weapons. She can change into her uniform at HQ. Taishiro opens his eyes to watch her in the darkness, ears pricked forward.

“If I need you, I’ll summon you okay? Until then stay here and keep everyone safe for me okay?” She scratches him behind the ears and smiles in reassurance. She twists wire into her hair with the practiced ease she’s developed doing it over her short career as she glances around to make sure she’s not forgetting anything. Satisfied, she pauses long enough to run her hand through Shikamaru’s hair once. She can’t linger any longer. 

She Shushins to the headquarters as soon as she’s out the door. Better to get there early. Owl would have a fit if they couldn’t leave at exactly three in the morning. Her mask is on before she gets to the door, a requirement for entering the building, unless injured. Katsumi lets herself become Fox. Let’s everything but the mission fade away. 

Fox changes into the full ANBU uniform quickly and pops a ration bar in her mouth in the privacy of her little room. She has ten minutes to meet her team on sublevel five for last minute prep. Then onto a nonstop, full speed run to the border town the targets are supposed to be at. 

Fox swallows the last bite the ration bar and readjusts her mask. Eight minutes left. She slips back out and moves silently through the hall and down the stairs, ignoring the other ANBU as she passes. She doesn’t have time for socializing. Not that ANBU do much of that anyway. She passes Dog on her way, and pretends she doesn’t notice when he slips an extra bag of soldier pills into her hip pouch. She doesn’t have time to stop and thank him. 

Owl and Stag are already in the room her unit has been using to discuss the Akatsuki missions. Stag is leaning against the wall twirling a Kunai lazily while Owl looks like he’s checking the massive storage scroll full of poison antidotes Tsunade had delivered to them for this mission. Hyena isn’t here yet, that’s fine though, there’s four minutes left to spare before Owl gets twitchy. 

Hyena stalks in with thirty seconds to spar. For once there’s no manic, excited energy rolling off of him, only barely restrained, utterly focused killing intent. Fox can appreciate it. 

“Right. Now that we’re all here, we’ll begin. The targets’ last known location is at a border town between the Land of Rivers and the Land of Fire, two kilometers away from the border on our side. Approximately one day’s run west of us. Owl and I will handle Sasori. Hyena, Fox, you will cut Deidara off from his partner and neutralize him. Whatever happens do not let him use his clay bird to put distance between you. These are long range types, we can’t afford to give them that advantage. We will attack under the cover of night. Any questions?”

There’s a long silence as Stag gives them a moment to think. Finally, he nods once, “we move now. Tight Diamond formation at all times until we reach the location. Owl up front, Fox to his left. Hyena, you bring up the rear.”

They move out in silence. Running through the forest canopy like the Shinigami is chasing them. Fox let’s her hearing increase until there’s nothing in the Forest she can’t locate on Sound alone. Her hearing range reaches up to four kilometers now. More than enough ruin any surprises that might be in their path. It’s a brutal pace, but Fox doesn’t complain. They want to get there before a day has passed, ideally. The less time taken, the easier it will be to hopefully find them. Ideally, after they’ve already had to fight In whatever mission they crossed the border for. 

Fox let’s her teeth bare silently under her mask. Hopefully the hunt won’t take too long. It’s been a long time since she’s had a real fight. 


	20. Chapter 20

Fox hears their voices long before the team starts closing in. Hears the clicking sound of puppet joints and the loud voice of the Iwa nin that she’s only heard in old memories. She signs quick and clean the location of the noise. Just within four kilometers. Sightly to the Southwest of them. 

Stag signs out quick and sharp for the unit to slow down and shift course to the target location. The team obeys without hesitation. Fox forces her breath to stay steady and begins reaching out with her chakra to check for water In the air. There’s a lot. This close to the land of Rivers, with Ame to the north of them, there’s more than enough water for her to use. Owl makes the sign for Chakra concealment as they get closer, and Fox slams down on her chakra signature without a second thought. It’s not long after sunset, and if they’re careful, the targets shouldn’t see them coming until it’s too late. She doesn’t bet on it though. These targets surely can’t be that foolish. 

The team stops far enough away that only Owl is able to actually see the targets, though Fox can hear them bickering about their art. She dials her hearing back somewhat. Deidara uses explosives. She prefers not to need her eardrums repaired. 

Fox keeps one eye on stag while she waits for the signal to move. The plan is simple enough for splitting the pair up. The rivers are everywhere even if they’re still on Fire Country’s side of the border. Kakashi-sensei taught her the serpent’s mouth jutsu, it should work well for separation. Fox just has to wait for orders to move forward to get within range of the river nearest the pair. Once that’s done, Owl and Stag will deal with Sasori. That leaves Fox and Hyena and Deidara. A real party. 

Fox is hedging her bets on Deidara trying to pull a suicide bomber move out if he thinks he’s losing. That means they have to kill him before he realizes he can’t win. Fox doesn’t worry about Sasori. Owl and Stag should be able to handle the living puppet. 

She’s more concerned about how the hell she and Hyena are going to keep Deidara from blowing them all sky high. She thinks cutting his fucking hands off would work beautifully. Fox tenses minutely as Owl signs at them to split off. From here on out, she’ll only have Hyena as back up. From here on out, there’s no turning back. 

Fox slips away to the right of the location of the targets, Hyena’s huge body right at her back as they move, slow and steady around to a better location. They have to take the time to carefully disable or work around the traps set in the area. It’s necessary though, She needs to see where she’s aiming her jutsu. They need to be ready to close in the moment the targets are separated. 

Fox settles high in a tree thirty meters away from the targets, Hyena crouched in a tree neighboring hers. The targets are still bickering over their art forms, Fox eyes the distance from their camp to the river to her position. Not ideal, but it’s tolerable. She’ll just take a soldier pill afterwards to offset the chakra costs the distance adds. Fox tilts her head and listens to Owl’s and Stag’s heart beats. Once she’s certain they’re in place and not moving, she’ll start. 

Deidara is closer to the river than Sasori is. Fox wonders if hitting the puppet master with her water would mess with the joints of his puppets. She’s never fought a puppet master before, she’s not sure how that works. There’s a reason she’s handling Deidara and not Sasori. 

Fox considers Deidara as she waits. He uses his clay to fly. She needs to direct the jutsu straight down onto him. Stag made it clear they have to keep him from getting in the air. To do whatever is necessary to keep him on the ground. Fox has a feeling that’s going to be much harder than it sounds. 

Her unit’s heart beats settle a little closer to the camp than she and Hyena did. That’s fine, she won’t hit them. She flicks through the hand seals, pushing out enough chakra to make the jutsu vicious. Brutally twisting it up as fast as she can. She can’t afford to waste a second. The watery serpent explodes out of the water and slammed into the campsite. She hears the target’s cursing and they manage to dodge it, but it does what it’s meant to. The pair separates to avoid the strike. 

Deidara moving straight towards her tree. Fox doesn’t hesitate and neither does Hyena. She swallows her distaste for her next move, and launches herself straight out of the tree, drawing her Wakizashi as she falls, chakra padding the fall enough to make it tolerable. She aims straight at the nukenin, aiming to hit in straight on. Hyena is a step behind her, intent on hitting from a lower angle. They’ve worked on this move enough they know they won’t hit each other. 

Deidara is out of the way half a second before they hit him. Hyena keeps moving after him though. Doesn’t give him the time to get the distance he favors as Fox slams into the ground and twists around to join the fray. She has to give it to the nukenin though. Even though he’s no close combat specialist, he’s holding his own, extremely well. She doesn’t spare a glance at the fight between her other team members and Sasori, Deidara has a hand in his clay pouch and she doesn’t like where this is going to go. She doesn’t think he’s willing to blow himself up yet but Kami only knows. Hyena is a lightning type though. Chosen specifically to counter the earth based explosive jutsu the Iwa nin uses. 

Fox snarls and uses one hand to trigger her water shrapnel jutsu, Using the same trick for Hyena as she does Taishiro to keep from hitting him too. Hyena doesn’t hesitate to let loose a minor lightning style jutsu into her water. A nasty combo they’d only tried a handful of times before. It’s enough to make the loud mouthed nukenin curse at them but not enough to get him to stop with the clay. The man has a higher pain tolerance than she was expecting. Fox should have mixed her poison in the way she did when she was trying to keep the Oto nin from taking Sasuke. She just can’t spare the seconds it would take to open the little sealed pot. 

The little clay bugs that fly towards them when his hand opens are almost cute. Looks more like children’s toys than bombs. Fox understands though. Deidara is no idiot, but he’s willing to gamble on them backing off if he looses a few weaker bombs at them. Even if it means he has to move too. That’s a win for him even then, the more space the better for him. It works. They’re big enough bombs that they’re forced to move, forced back from him. Shit. By the time the smoke clears there’s a fucking clay bird and Deidara is on it and it’s about to take off. 

Hyena comes up with a plan before her and by the Sage does she hate it. He doesn’t even explain it, gives her no warning at all. Just grabs her and flings her like a rag doll up into the air, chakra aiding him. With a single order not to fall off the fucking clay bird, she’s flying through the air twisting around in a bad imitation of a cat and slams straight into the side of the clay bird. She has no idea if the bird itself is explosive too, but at this point she’s already stuck to it and she’s going to kill Hyena if she survives this and the bird is getting higher and Deidara’s cursing and shouting at her and fuck, this is how she’s going to die. 

Fox grits her teeth and drags herself onto the bird before Deidara can fling her off and it is so much worse now that she’s on two feet. Deidara has kept moving up into the sky and Fox really fucking hates this. Deidara is crouched on the front of the damn bird and Fox doesn’t give him a moment to throw any bombs at her. She flings herself at him and locks her arm around his neck. Let’s her Wakizashi fall out of the sky and draws a kunai, intent on stabbing him. The bird is moving wildly in the air as he struggles with her. She feels her stomach drop as the nukenin loses his grip on one foot. She has no idea what’s happening below her. Just prays the idiot she’s trying to kill flies the damn bird close enough to the ground. She really doesn’t want to fall to her death. She can feel a kunai slam into the thigh she’s wrapped around his thigh and she gets pissed. Stops trying to stab him and starts trying to work her hand under his cloak to get to his clay pouch and throw it away. She gets both legs around him and sticks herself to him like an octopus with her chakra. 

She ignores his cursing and insults and accusations of being a pervert and tightens her arm around his neck, hand digging into the neck of his cloak to keep the hold. If he wants her off, he’ll have to throw himself from the damn bird to manage it. She snarls her frustration and activates the chakra claws with both hands. Ignores it entirely when she’s stabbed a second time in the hip next, because he’s clearly unwilling to blow himself up with her. She can live with the stab wounds. She’s had plenty of those. The smell of his blood seeping out under her had is satisfying though. She’d rake her claws over his throat if she didn’t think it’d result in a long, long fall to the ground. She has no idea if the bird would be enough of a cushion to save her from becoming one with the Earth. 

She feels one of his hands grab onto the back her uniform and try to rip her off his back. She clings tighter, digs the chakra claws in until she strikes bone. Feels the bird go into a dead drop, holds onto the idiot for dear life as she stares straight down at the ground in a free fall. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. 

Fox waits until he finally pulls them out of the drop, about half away up, and says fuck it. Rakes the chakra claws across and around his neck and throat even as he flings a clay bomb out. The explosion flings them apart and up. Blood sprays through the air from his throat and her side and thigh and her ears are ringing and Fox is so fucked. She falls fast, stares at the ground and tries to pad herself with chakra and tries to prepare herself to roll, prays she’s going to hit the trees first to slow the fall. 

She misses the trees. Hyena slams into her from the side half a second before she hits the ground. Even with him stopping the fall, the force of the hit causes an audible cracking noise as her ribs break and she feels her shoulder dislocate at the awkward save. Shit. Hyena sets her down and relocates her shoulder quick and harshly. Not giving her the time to brace herself and her vision goes black from the pain for a moment. When her vision comes back, Hyena is already gone, moving to help Stag and Owl deal with Sasori. Fox pauses long enough to bandage the thigh wound, she’s fairly sure he missed her femoral artery, but combined with the stab wound to her hip bone, she can feel the blood loss getting to her. 

Fox watches as Owl cuts through Chakra strings like it’s nothing and Stag destroys puppet after puppet. Hyena is going to make the kill. Fox can tell. Owl and Stag are steadily cutting a clear path through the puppets for Hyena to get to Sasori. Fox stumbles forward, pushes through the pain in her leg and tries to get to the others to help. Watches in distant horror as Stag is cut down by a pair of puppets a split second before Hyena shoves a blade straight through the cylinder that hold’s Sasori’s heart. There’s a long moment of stillness as the remaining puppets fall to the ground. The sudden silence is eerie as she reaches the rest of the team. Stag is laid out on the ground, mask cracked and blood pouring out of his chest around the blade stuck through it. Fox is no medic. Owl knows some but not enough to fix this. Hyena is no better. Field medics aren’t common in the general forces, they’re near nonexistent in ANBU. The only one she knows of is Rat, who’s semi retired from ANBU. Stag is fucked. 

“Hyena. Fox. Deal with the targets’ bodies.” Owl’s voice is hard as he gives his command. _I’ll take care of Stag_ , is unspoken. Fox doesn’t argue. Owl and Stag are well known to have worked together for years in ANBU. If anyone has right to handle the body scroll, it’s Owl. 

Fox focuses on dealing with Deidara’s body. It’s simple enough, Research and Development will want to study his body. So she doesn’t have to burn and decapitate the body. Just stick it in the body scroll and burn the area around it to destroy any body tissue left behind. 

Hyena is finished before she is. Doesn’t say a word as he helps her into his back. It’s a piggy back ride or taking days to make it back, her leg too ruined to run on it. Nothing the medics can’t fix though. She can see Owl finish burning the humans made puppets that once belonged to Sasori. Watches distantly as he adjusts his mask away from his mouth and downs an antidote from Tsunade’s scroll. 

It’s a long, silent run home. Fox is ready to debrief and move on from tonight’s events. ANBU medics aren’t near as nice as the ones at the hospital. They patch Fox back together with all the brisk, roughness of years of dealing with volatile, masked shinobi. No painkillers offered. Debriefing takes hours as they go through every detail. By the time it’s all over, it’s nine at night the day after the mission, and it’s time for Fox to be Katsumi again, but she’s strung so tightly from the mission and watching a comrade die on a mission with her for the first time, that she can’t come down. She can’t go back to the Nara’s like this, still bloody, and filthy and half a step away from stabbing someone with her Katana, since her Wakizashi is gone. Fox locks herself away in the tiny bedroom she has ANBU headquarters and traps the hell out of the door. Sits on the floor beside the bed and watches the door, a kunai spinning around the fingers of one hand. She’s beginning to get why Tou-San came home so high strung sometimes. 


	21. Chapter 21

Fox doesn’t know how long she sits on the floor staring at the trapped and locked door. Doesn’t know how long she’s been awake anymore. Or how long the kunai has been spinning in her hand. Just knows it’s been a long time. Certainly longer than is healthy. The blood has long since dried and cracked on her skin and it itches, but she makes no move to go to the showers and rinse off. She thinks she’d tear apart anyone whose path she crosses now. 

The nervous, post-mission energy makes her feel like she needs to fight more. Like it’s not over yet and the worst part is it’s true. There are a whole slew of missions lined up to deal with the Akatsuki threats. Even If they aren’t back to back, it’s not over yet. There’s more coming and she can’t rest until is over. Can’t stop until the Akatsuki are all rotting. Needs them to be dust and bone before she can stop. Fox peels her lips back behind her mask and snarls at the thought of the problems existing even a second longer than necessary. 

Eventually there’s a quiet knock on the door and she suppresses her chakra on instinct in response. Her eardrums were damaged by the last explosion and the medics may have been able to repair them, but she’s been barred from moving her chakra into them for at least two weeks. She can’t even count heart beats to assess the amount of threats on the other side of the door. 

“Fox. Open the door.” Kakashi. Sensei. Dog. Taichou. Alpha. Pack. Safe. Fox knows that voice, even though it’s deeper than when he’s not Dog. She knows it. 

She’s at the door and disabling traps without a second thought. She’ll check for a henge once the order is followed. Disobedience isn’t tolerated in ANBU. Dog stands on the other side of the door a few feet back from it, hands held low and open, palms faced towards her and fingers spread so it’s clear there’s no weapon. The dog mask stares down at Fox as she scents the air once. Blood and metal and leaves and faint ozone. It’s Dog. 

“May I enter?” His voice is the kind a person uses to sooth a pissed off, injured animal. Fox isn’t a fan. 

She steps aside though, backs up and away from the door far enough for him to know she’ll allow the intrusion. Never shows him her back, just Incase. 

Dog moves slowly. Every motion clearly projected, doesn’t show her his back either, as he steps inside and closes the door quietly behind him. Stands a safe distance from her and waits. 

“What?” Fox gets sick of the stare down first. The twitchy need to fight still bubbling under her skin. A verbal spar would suffice, she supposes. 

“The mission is over,” Dog’s voice is just as soothing as it was a moment ago, “The mission is finished and you can stop now.”

Fox stares at the man across from her. Tilts her head a little as she considers him. This mission might be over but she can’t stop now. There’s too much left to do. 

“You can stop being Fox now. In these rooms you’re allowed to take your mask off. You’re allowed to stop now. The mission is finished.” 

Fox twitches slightly. She’s not supposed to reveal her identity to anyone. When she says so, Dog sighs a little and removes his own mask and now it’s Kakashi-Sensei standing across from her. 

“It’s okay if you take your mask off around people who already know who you are. It’s time to stop now, the mission is over, Katsumi. You’re finished being Fox now.”

Hearing her name is jarring. It makes something crack a little in her head. Suddenly she’s not Fox anymore. Just Katsumi hiding behind a mask. Suddenly taking the porcelain mask off is the easiest thing in the world. The mask dangles in her hand and she stares up at Kakashi-sensei with wide eyes as the fight drains away. Her hands are shaking slightly and she can feel her whole body aching from the fight. 

“Good. Now, I want you to summon Taishiro, alright?” Kakashi-Sensei’s voice is back to the normal, lazy, lighter voice she knows best. 

She obeys without a thought and Taishiro appears in a puff of smoke. Taishiro looks confused for a moment, head cocked sideways as he takes in the little room, before twisting around and sniffing her vigorously. Licks at the blood on her hands and whines as he noses all over her. She places one hand on his head and her eyes track between Taishiro and Sensei. 

“Do you know how long you’ve been in here?” His voice is light and conversational. 

“No.”

“Ten hours or so, when you’re ready, you’re going to go to the showers and rinse off and change back into your normal uniform, alright? Then we’re going to get you fed and you’re going to go home and sleep, understood?”

Katsumi blinks up at him as she strokes Taishiro’s ears the way he likes. A shower sounds nice. 

“Hai, Sensei.”

He eye smiles at her, with both eyes for once, since ANBU don’t wear their hitai-ate under their masks, “Good, Katsumi-Chan! I can guard the bathroom for you if you’d feel more comfortable that way. The other ANBU would understand, we’ve all needed that before.”

Katsumi hesitates for a moment before nodding once. The whole communal showers thing seems like a recipe for disaster with the post mission nerves. 

“Katsumi sad?” Taishiro presses up against her legs as he looks up at her. 

“No, not sad. Just a hard hunt, yeah?” She gives him a weak smile. 

Taishiro doesn’t say anything to that, just presses harder against her and wags his tail a little. 

“Can Taishiro come with me?” Katsumi doesn’t want to be separated from him right now. 

“Maa, I don’t see why not.” Sensei eye smiles again and picks up her standard uniform and flak jacket before slipping his mask back on. 

Katsumi sides her mask back on and allows him to lead her down the corridors until they get to the communal bathroom. Sensei wags his finger at her before going in for a moment, presumably to make sure it’s empty. When he comes back out he practically pushes her inside, hands her her clothes, and closes the door immediately after Taishiro’s tail is through. It’s silent save for the drip of water from a faucet. The lights flicker occasionally and the air is cold, but Katsumi is suddenly desperate for a shower and this shitty room is perfect for her right now. 

She picks the shower in the furthest corner and turns the water up to the hottest setting, there’s no shower curtain but Katsumi doesn’t care. Taishiro is standing guard beside the shower cubicle and Sensei is guarding the door to the bathroom. She stands under the shower and just lets the harsh water pressure wash away the sweat and dirt and blood. Makes sure to keep the water from getting in her ears, another no-no from the Medics for the next two weeks. 

She doesn’t cry. It’s not like the first time she killed a man in a fight. She’s not numb either. It’s not like the assassination mission Genma took her on. She feels hollowed out though. She hadn’t know Stag well. Didn’t know anything about him really, had only spent a month with him. But he was steady and a good sparring partner and she doesn’t know who he was but she thinks he didn’t deserve to die. At least not anymore than any other shinobi just doing what their village asks of them. She hopes whoever he is, his name gets to be on the memorial stone. Maybe she’ll take a page out of Sensei’s book and visit him there once and awhile. Even if he was only her teammate for a moment, she thinks she should give him that curtesy at least. 

The water runs cold all too soon and Taishiro starts pestering her to get out. He hates cold water, and she knows he thinks it’s terrible if anyone takes a cold bath or shower. She dries off quickly, gets dressed even faster, keeps her mask on though as she steps out of the bathroom with Taishiro. 

Sensei looks down at her, through the holes in his mask and nods slightly, “I’ll show you a secret exit. Most of us use it to come and go during the day. It’s not lit so you can take the mask off once we’re there and put it away.”

Katsumi nods once and follows meekly behind him, Taishiro pressed tight to her side, head low and hackles raised. Displaying the aggression that’s been burned out of her. Kakashi-Sensei leads her down up the stairs to the second sublevel and through the corridors until they reach a tunnel with no light in it at all. 

Kakashi-Sensei touches her shoulder lightly about halfway through. She takes that to mean it’s time to put Fox away. She does it, slipping the mask into the storage scroll she carries in her pocket and bumps against Sensei softly. She hears him chuckle slightly and hears his footsteps walk away, audible only because he intends them to be. 

She blinks against the bright light when Sensei leads her out of the tunnel. Has to squint for a moment. Has to resist the urge to go back to her assigned room where it’s dim and orderly and silent. Konoha suddenly seems overwhelming. She glances over at Sensei helplessly while placing a hand on Taishiro’s back to ground herself. He must have been in a henge except for the mask, because he’s in his standard jounin uniform now. 

Sensei just pats her head, “Maa, Katsumi-Chan, ramen, dango, or barbecue?”

Katsumi suddenly realizes she’s eaten one ration bar in nearly three days. She’s starving. She doesn’t normally eat ramen, when she did it was because Naruto convinced her to, but it sounds really good right now. 

“Ramen.”

“Ah, Naruto rubbed off on you, I see. Ramen it is.”

They go to Ichiraku’s and it’s strange to be there without Naruto there to eat ten bowls of the stuff at once. It’s too bad Kusa is holding the Chuunin exams this time. She’d have liked to see Naruto. Maybe she’ll see if she can’t weasel her way into being a proctor in the next Konoha exams if he doesn’t pass this time. 

She and Sensei don’t speak as they eat, Taishiro just talks about the ramen, something she’s sure he’s not supposed to have but she figures once won’t kill him. He’ll pout too much if she doesn’t let him have some. When they finish, Sensei eye smiles at her. 

“Now you need sleep, you can either go home and sleep in your own bed, or you can crash on my couch for the day. The pack is there if you don’t want to be alone, but I have some stuff I need to deal with later. Entirely up to you.”

Katsumi wonders how much it cost him to offer his couch. Sensei is extremely private and she doesn’t even know the area where he lives. She appreciates the offer, but she wants her own bed and her own room. She needs to sleep somewhere she knows. No matter how secure Sensei’s home is or the fact the pack is there, she needs somewhere familiar. 

“No thank you, Sensei. I just want my own bed.”

“Maa, of course Katsumi-Chan! Offer is open if you’re ever not comfortable going home afterwards!”

Sensei walks her back to the Nara compound, and she can’t tell if he’s watching out for her or everyone else. She appreciates it though. The house is empty and when Sensei leaves her, she doesn’t even underdress before climbing to her bed. Taishiro presses his warm, lean body against her back and she’s asleep In the next heartbeat. 

The nightmares that chase her through her sleep are just red, red, red. Broken masks and dead bodies and falling and pain. Taishiro’s presence isn’t enough to stave them off.


	22. Chapter 22

Katsumi has no more Akatsuki missions lined up for now. Tactics is still fighting over which members to go after next and how to do it best. So Fox stays tucked away in the storage scroll under her bed. She still trains with Hyena and Owl and Crow though. None of them mention Stag and Owl is even more serious than usual, but it’s fine. There’s nothing they can do for it. 

Katsumi finally works up the will to visit Sasuke a month after the ANBU mission, after taking a few little courier missions with Sensei here and there. She wants to see him. Wants to know if her friend even exists or if he’s been warped into a stranger permanently by the curse mark. She thinks it’s called closure, but it feels more like desperate hope. She wants her Sasuke back. The one that was a steady, solid presence on the wave mission, the one that saved her from falling in the Forest of Death. 

The psych ward is all white walls and bright light. The Yamanaka that takes her to the visitation room runs through the rules. No raising her voice. No helping Sasuke escape. Keep her hands to herself. If she wants to leave knock on the door twice. Leave all weapons with them while she visits. Warns her to be prepared, the curse mark is affecting his mental state badly and it makes him prone to angry outbursts. 

She’s lead into the room, and Sasuke is already seated in the chair across the table. Dressed in white, clean clothes and seals that prevent chakra usage. For the first time she gets a good look at his left eye. It looks better than she expected, but then it’s had over a year to heal. The claw marks she left are thin and pale and stretch from his temple to his nose. The eye brow has lines going through it where hair will never regrow, and his eye is shut. She can see where she cut the skin of his eyelid. 

“Hey, Sasuke.” Katsumi shifts in her seat as she breaks the silence. 

“Ishihara.”

“I should have visited sooner. How have you been? I heard treatment is going well.” She hasn’t heard that, but it’s better than saying she’s heard it’s going terribly. 

“You don’t care how I’ve been. You’re the reason I’m in here.” His voice is blank but she can see the anger in his one eye. 

“I do care. And you’re in here because you need help.” 

“I need to get stronger. I would be so much better than you if you hadn’t had me thrown in here.”

Katsumi tilts her head and recalls her old memories. He’s right. But he wouldn’t be him anymore either and the village would have suffered for his strength. Naruto would have suffered. This is better. 

“When you’re better, you can have all the strength you’d like. This is to help you.”

“It’s not helping. You fucked me, Ishihara. Don’t you get it? I have to kill him and instead I’m stuck in here.” His voice raises a little and Katsumi knows his Sharingan would be whirling if he was able to activate it right now. 

“You’re here by your own choices, no one else’s. It’s not my fault.” Katsumi does her best to keep her voice level. 

“Bullshit. I’m here because you couldn’t stand the idea I’d be stronger than you.”

Katsumi raises an eyebrow at that, “I honestly could not give less of a fuck if you were stronger than me. I care that you defected.”

“Liar. You’re going to amount to nothing, you know that? Just another career Chuunin Kunoichi that retires to be a housewife. You just want to ruin everyone else’s chances to succeed.”

“Not really, no.” Katsumi doesn’t remember Sasuke being this chatty. Or this rude. It’s interesting, but this conversation is pointless, “this has been a good talk, Uchiha, but some people have actual places to be. Have fun in your padded cell.”

She knocks on the door twice and ignores the insults Sasuke is throwing at her back. As she walks out, he snarls one last thing, “One day, Ishihara, I’ll kill you too.”

Katsumi doesn’t react to the threat. Just leaves silently as if hearing her once teammate promise to kill her is nothing. She wonders what he said to Sensei when he visited. She gets why Sensei wasn’t happy after visiting if Sasuke was like this with him too. 

For the first time, she seeks out a solo mission. She wants to be alone for awhile. Wants an excuse to be out of the village. Technically as a Chuunin she’s not supposed to take solo missions, but since her registration number was updated after joining ANBU, she’s allowed to take up to B-ranks alone. She ends up on a B-ranked assassination, ranked that way only because Assassinations are automatically B-ranked at lowest. Some lady is paying big money to have her cheating husband and his mistress killed. Konoha may be the nice village, but military governments run on money not morals, especially when its military is made up of mercenaries. As long as it doesn’t hurt Konoha, no job is turned down if the client can pay for it and is willing to sign a confidentiality agreement for certain things. Konoha just doesn’t talk about it. Likes to keep the rug over the bloodstained floor. 

The targets live in a pretty village. The husband has nice, big fancy house, the kind only a civilian thinks is nice. The kind a shinobi takes one look at and knows it’s easily infiltrated. The mistress is put up in a smaller, just as nice, house further away. Apparently, the husband paid for it. Blatantly. That was the last straw for the wife. Not the fucking another woman thing, but buying a house for the woman the husband is fucking. Katsumi doesn’t understand it, but it’s not her problem. Apparently, wife is visiting with family this month. Katsumi thinks she just doesn’t want to see the evidence of her jealous wrath. Would rather the servants find the aftermath. 

Taishiro stalks the village with her, playing the skinny stray dog begging for scraps as he watches the servants and Husband while she watches the Mistress from the tree canopy. She intends to kill both at once. Eventually she’ll have the opportunity if she waits long enough. 

It doesn’t even take two days for the opportunity to present itself. Made even easier because it’s hot and the husband leaves the window open to the bedroom like an idiot. Taishiro slinks up the tree to sit with her on the branch as she waits for the pair to finish their fun. She prefers not to get near that business. 

“Prey breeding. Time to hunt now?” Taishiro’s tongue lolls out of his mouth as he gives her the canine approximation of a smile. 

“Not yet. They’ll fall asleep afterwards. Then time to hunt. Less mess that way.”

Taishiro yawns at that, but doesn’t argue. Easy kills are always better. The targets don’t take long. Thank Kami. Katsumi didn’t want to have to listen to that for hours. Katsumi waits a bit longer, just to make sure neither are going to still be awake when she enters. 

Katsumi feels a bit weird slipping through the window with Taishiro at her side into a room with two sleeping naked people, but a mission is a mission and this is how she had planned to do it anyway. Taishiro certainly doesn’t give a damn. But then, he has no concept of privacy. 

The targets are naked and Katsumi does her best to ignore that as she stands over them. Her Assassination technique would make the husband’s death look like natural enough. But on both of them it’d be suspicious and the wife would prefer not to be implicated. Katsumi grimaces a little at her solution. Good thing the husband is so obese, a life of luxury and stagnation that works in her favor. 

Katsumi uses a lethal dose of her paralytic on the mistress first, a senbon needle slipped painlessly into the artery in her outstretched arm. A strong enough dosage stops the diaphragm from being able to work. Suffocation occurs within minutes if not treated. It’s been awhile since she’s used the weaker dosages. She pauses a moment to confirm the husband is sleeping still. Satisfied he is, she flips through the handseals and places her fingers against his throat to pump chakra into the carotid artery. She aims for a heart attack, but as long as he dies she doesn’t really care if it’s by an aneurysm or stroke instead. 

She waits until the agonal breathing starts and begins working to roll him onto the mistress. It’s awkward and gross and Katsumi hates it deeply, but it’s the best method. One she thinks the Wife will probably find a sick kind of humor in, too. It looks like he just had a heart attack on top of the woman and she couldn’t get out. 

Taishiro makes a tiny noise, something between a growl and a whine, as he watches the door. That’s not good. Definitely time to go. They slip out the window as silently as they came and move away to watch. Katsumi needs to confirm the plan worked. She thinks it did, but the method she used with the mistress isn’t the most efficient. Someone could easily save her by breathing for her if they found her in time. Katsumi has to stay long enough to know that’s not going to happen. 

The pair lingers for an hour, watching from a safe distance. No one comes. Good. They can go home. It’s a four day run back, about seven days if they pause to rest. Katsumi can make that run without rest, Sensei made damn sure of that, but If Taishiro wants to stop, she won’t argue it. He refuses to unsummon himself voluntarily and complains when she orders him too. So she takes him into consideration in matters like that. 

It’s six hours into the run, when she hears heartbeats closing in on her from behind and all she thinks is  _fuck_. She knows she’s Close to the border between Konoha and Kusa. Knows they’ve been on shaky ground with that village even if the Chuunin exams are being held there and things have been tense. Katsumi isn’t eager to be at the center of an international incident. Especially without back up. Fuck, this was supposed to be the Assassination equivalent of a D or C-rank. 

Four heart beats. A whole squad. Shit. Katsumi signs once to Taishiro, tells him silently to split up and and kill his chakra signature. At best, whoever is pursuing them will lose their trail. At worst, they’ll be able to ambush them hopefully. 

Katsumi slaps explosive tags down on the branches of the trees and twists ninja wire through the trees with the intention of garroting them if they get caught in it, before taking a sharp turn left. In the trees, Konoha shinobi are king. No other village is half as skilled at the near guerrilla warfare that developed to fight easier in the thick foliage. If these are Kusa shinobi, they’ve put themselves at a disadvantage by coming into Konoha territory and chasing a Konoha shinobi. Their advantage is their numbers. Katsumi thinks the odds are still in her favor though. Kusa isn’t exactly one of the five great hidden villages. 

The heartbeats are closing in fast now. Katsumi presses close against the trunk of the tree, a hand on her Katana’s handle and watches the place the heartbeats are coming from. She managed to kill fucking Deidara. She can manage a few Kusa nin if worst comes to worst. Katsumi doesn’t want to fight at the moment, but she’ll happily show them why she’s in the bingo book if they want a fight. 

She pulls the water from the terrain like Crane taught her. Dries out the surrounding forest until it’s a tinderbox. It’s far harder than pulling water in the air, takes more chakra than usual, but Crane demanded perfection and Katsumi gave it. Paid for this skill in blood and sweat. She has no qualms about using it. 

She was right. Kusa. Looks like chuunin. She has no idea what they’re doing on the wrong side of the border or why they’re clearing hunting her but she doesn’t care. She shifts slightly and triggers the explosive tags. Even if those don’t kill them, the resulting fire will certainly make them uncomfortable. Hopefully enough so that they retreat and leave her be. 

The smoke of the explosion clears and the fires it caused are spreading through the forcibly dried area quickly. The Kusa nin are shouting orders at each other and not retreating and Katsumi doesn’t give them time to form a plan. The water she pulled for the forest is still in the air even if the heat is evaporating is. She takes advantage of that. Pulls her mist down and whistles once from her perch. A single call for Taishiro’s help. Mist and fire and hunting hounds. Katsumi wonders if the shinobi even realize she’s only one person. Or if they think she found back up. 

Regardless, she’s in the mist and Chasing after their heart beats in the time it takes for blink. She hears a snarl and the sound of a heavy body slamming into someone and knows Taishiro has her back. She feels her katana hit against what she thinks is a tanto and rolls her eyes. Takes one hand off her katana and triggers her water shrapnel. Hears a choked off yell as the mist around her turns into a nasty attack. Keeps going even as the Pressure against her sword disappears. The mist is slowly turning to steam and it’s hot probably going to result in she and Taishiro getting minor burns and Katsumi wants this finished fast. 

Two heart beats left. The feel of the ground under her shaking and breaking apart sends a jolt of fear through her. Fuck. She hates dealing with earth jutsu. 

“Taishiro!” She snaps his name out as she jumps out of the way of having her leg crushed. She hears him snarl wordlessly and there’s the sound of a body slamming full force into another. Damn. While Taishiro isn’t a bulky dog, built for speed rather than strength, Katsumi knows from experience getting hit by him going at full chakra-enhanced speed is like getting hit in the chest with a boulder. It sounds like concrete hitting concrete. Taishiro is pissed if he’s fighting that hard. 

She hits the ground and cancels the mist jutsu. The steam it’s turning into is just too hot. She can’t deal with it. There’s a single Kusa nin left, and she looks pissed. Katsumi can see Taishiro, bloody and snarling, with his teeth buried in the throat of Kusa nin she thinks was the cause of the East jutsu. She can see cuts on him and what looks like a stab wound to the shoulder. That will need treatment.

She and the Kunoichi face off for a moment. It’s not often Katsumi fights other Kunoichi. The gender ratio is too skewed for it to be a regular think. 

“There a reason you were following me?” Katsumi tries to keep her voice light the way Sensei does. Tries to sound unconcerned and bored. 

“Easy bounty, bitch.” The woman snarls it. 

Katsumi shrugs a bit at that. Well, she supposes the Bingo books do downplay her by a lot. Make it out like she’s only a threat when she’s with Sensei or other Konoha shinobi. Sucks for these guys. She employs another trick Crane taught her. The fucked up fear genjutsu. Two handseals are all that’s needed. More than easy with one hand. Let’s see what the bitch fears most. 

The genjutsu is a funny one. It works on the amygdala. Draws out the things that a person is averse to, and uses killing intent to intensify that aversion into pure fear. Often they don’t even know what they fear most until they see it. Katsumi certainly didn’t. 

She can see the moment the genjutsu takes hold. Can see the widening of eyes and pupils dilating. Can smell the fear in the air. Whatever the woman is afraid of, she’s clearly unprepared to face it. The fire is spreading closer to them and Katsumi is probably going to need her lungs treated for smoke inhalation when she makes it back. Maybe starting a wildfire was overkill. 

Katsumi moves in a blur, taking advantage of the seconds the genjutsu buys her to shove her katana through the woman’s chest and out through her spinal cord. The crushing of bone is an unpleasant but familiar sound. She would feel worse about making the final moments for this woman so unpleasant, but she doesn’t appreciate someone trying to take her head for cash. 

“Taishiro. Unsummon yourself now. Have Yoshino take you to the Inuzuka’s for treatment. I’ll be there in a few days.” Katsumi withdraws the sword and wipes the blood and tissue from it, Taishiro needs treatment she can’t give and she won’t have him argue with her right now. 

“Want to stay. No separation.” Taishiro looks like a wild animal as her stalks over to her, a slight limp from the shallow stab wound in his shoulder. 

“I’ll summon you again if I need back up. Now go. That’s an order.” Katsumi refuses to fight with him on this. 

“Send Hunting Alpha?” She can hear the hope in his voice. 

“No, I have it handled, go.” Unless shit really hits the fan again, she doesn’t need Sensei to come rescue her. 

Finally, Taishiro sighs like he thinks she’s a bit slow, but unsummons himself. Katsumi’s left alone with fire and corpses. The flames are already licking at two of the bodies. Katsumi doesn’t bother to clean up. The fire will deal with the bodies and she can smell rain in the air. The fire won’t spread much. And it’s far enough away from any villages that she’s not worried. 

Katsumi turns south and heads towards home. Goes at a speed only ANBU move at. She doesn’t want to be this far out alone, for a second longer than necessary. Not after using over a quarter of her reserves on that fight. There’s no more problems and she makes it back in the four day window she wanted, though it exhausted her to do so. 

She writes her report as she sits in the hospital and the medics are treating her lungs for damage. Apparently, running at the speed she was nonstop with smoke inhalation was not intelligent. At least that’s what the grumpy medic treating her says. 

Yoshino isn’t happy when she gets home. Apparently sending an injured Taishiro back without her is heart attack inducing. Whoops. Yoshino makes it more than clear if that happens again, Katsumi may not live long enough to regret it. Shikaku just calls her troublesome and asks what happened. He looks troubled when she mentions the bounty thing. Thank Kami Shikamaru is still gone for the Chuunin exams. He’d flip. Taishiro is already healed and he gripes at her the entire day about making him leave. 

The next bingo book she’s sees that she’s in has been updated. B-rank threat. Approach with caution. A much higher bounty. Great. Katsumi is now worth the risk it would take to remove her fucking head. Sensei is going to be so proud when he sees. Then he’s going to train her into the ground as punishment. 


	23. Chapter 23

Katsumi is in the abandoned building training ground as Fox sparring with Hyena when she’s summoned by the Hokage. Gets the summons in the middle of trying to kick the other ANBU in the face. The distraction is enough to give him an opening to grab her by the ankle and slam her into the ground. The force of the impact leaves her breathless for a moment. Then the summons registers and she gone in a blur, Hyena’s mad cackles and heckling chasing her back. She likes Hyena, but she has questions about how in the hell he ended up in ANBU. Wonders if he came the way he is or turned into that. 

Katsumi kneels in front of Lady Tsunade’s desk when she arrives. As protocol demands for anyone in an ANBU mask. She was called here as Fox. She’s not sure she wants to know what’s going to be asked of her. Regardless she says, “Lady Hokage?”

“Stand up and remove your mask, Ishihara,” Tsunade sounds worn out, sounds like she’s exhausted and would rather be anywhere else than speaking to her. 

Katsumi stands and removes her mask, feeling a bit numb because that tone bodes badly for her, “Yes, lady Hokage?”

She purses her lips as she looks Katsumi over, finally, “Ishihara Satoshi was recalled from his mission four months ago. As of yesterday, he’s made no contact with any of our shinobi and hasn’t been heard from since his last message three months ago saying he was withdrawing back to Konoha. As of today, I have no choice but to declare him missing in Action. If a body is found, or he remains missing for longer than a year, he will be declared Killed in Action unless proven otherwise. I’m sorry for your loss.”

Katsumi’s entire body feels cold and she can feel the blood drain from her face. Tou-San is missing. Is gone. Not even a body. She knows he was gone most of the time, but he’s Tou-San. He taught her Kenjutsu and carried her on his shoulders and was proud of every achievement she had. He’s tou-San. He can’t just be  _ gone._

“Ishihara? I understand your grief, if you need any help with arrangements, there’s people who can help with that. And Missing In Action isn’t a death sentence. Plenty of shinobi find their way back.” Tsunade’s voice is shockingly gentle and Katsumi hates it. Hates the sympathy in it. Hates the false hope she’s being offered. She doesn’t want condolences. She wants Tou-San. She wants her fucking Tou-San. 

“May I be dismissed?” Katsumi can’t be here right now. 

“Of course. No solo missions until Psych clears you.”

Katsumi is gone as soon as the Hokage is finished. Doesn’t even think. Just goes. Ends up in front of the apartment she hasn’t been to since Tou-San left. Unlocks the door with a key she hasn’t touched in over a year and disables the traps on little more than muscle memory. Locks herself in and just stares at the dark apartment that smells more like dust than her father. 

She stumbles into his room, a room she never went into when he was gone but it doesn’t matter now because he’s _gone_ gone. The kind of gone that ends up on the memorial stone. The kind of gone that doesn’t even get a grave because there’s nothing to bury. 

Katsumi curls up on the center of the bed. The only place that smells like her father. Metal and rainwater and leaves. Somehow, the scent of blood that he carried is absent. Tou-San was always good about cleaning the blood from missions off before touching the furniture. 

Katsumi doesn’t cry. Doesn’t want the scent of her tears to ruin her father’s smell. She just lays there in the dark room staring at the wall. Fox mask tossed haphazardly on the bed Beside her. 

She stays there for hours. Doesn’t summon Taishiro for company. Doesn’t want company. Just wants her father and for things to be better between them. He’d left without a goodbye and she’d done her best to pretend it didn’t matter since then. But he left without a Goodbye and she’s been furious ever since and now he’s probably dead and Katsumi wants to scream. Wants to throw things and rage but all she can do is lay there staring at the blank wall. 

Eventually the sunsets and the room is pitch black and Katsumi makes no move to get up. Doesn’t have an interest in moving. Wants to lay there until her tou-San walks through the door and asks her what she’s doing. But the hours pass and that doesn’t happen and she just curls up tighter on the bed with only the silence and her father’s faded scent for company. 

Eventually the sound of the lock being picked breaks the silence, but Katsumi doesn’t even raise her head to look. Doesn’t so much as move her eyes to look when there’s a quiet knock on the doorframe of the bedroom. 

“I was wondering if I’d find you here.” Shikaku’s rough voice is softer than she’s ever heard it before. She doesn’t say anything back though. 

There’s a soft sigh and a moment later he’s crouched in front of her by the bed, dark eyes solemn as he meets her eyes, “I’m sorry this is happening. I won’t tell you it will be okay or anything like that. So cry if you need to, I’ll be here until you’re ready to start again. Alright?”

Katsumi stares at his scarred face and dark eyes and nods slightly. She’s spent more time with him than she has her own father and isn’t that just funny. Katsumi can feel the hysterical laughter bubbling up in her throat. It comes out as a choked sob though and suddenly she just can’t stop crying. Sobbing great ugly tears and shaking with the force of her grief. 

Shikaku places one hand on her head and strokes her hair softly as she sobs. Doesn’t say a word as she wails into her tou-san’s pillow. Just crouches by the bed and keeps her silent company. 

Finally when her tears run dry and she’s down to little hiccuping sobs, He speaks, “would you like to stay here tonight or come back with me? Yoshino and Shikamaru are worried sick. Taishiro is wearing a hole in my floor and I think Shikamaru has your gambling winnings with him.”

Katsumi blinks dumbly at that. She’d forgotten She’d asked Shikamaru to bet on the exams for her. It seems so small now. So stupid. 

“Katsumi? What would you like to do?”

That’s the question, isn’t it? What to do? Katsumi doesn’t have an answer. Is so emotionally spent that she doesn’t have the energy to even consider his question. Shikaku seems to realize this because he nods a little to himself. 

“I don’t think you should be alone right now. Let’s get you home, alright? Yoshino’s making tea for you.” 

Katsumi doesn’t fight as he gently helps her to her feet. Hardly notices when he picks up her mask and tucks it away. Shikaku’s hand presses against her back as he leads her from the apartment and into the cool night air. 

Katsumi’s in a daze as he walks her through the streets, guiding her down the twists and turns with a hand on her back. He keeps to the side streets to avoid any passerby’s. 

When they make it back to the compound Taishiro comes running out of the house full speed, whines and questions breaking the silence. Katsumi just stares down at him blankly. She doesn’t know how to explain what’s wrong. Can’t form the words. Shikamaru stands in the doorway, looking a bit lost on what to do. Katsumi hardly looks at him as Shikaku walks her inside to the kitchen table. Yoshino already has the tea poured and when the woman sees her, she’s being wrapped in a tight hug almost immediately. The woman doesn’t say anything, just holds her tightly for a moment before leading her to the table and handing her the tea. 

Katsumi stares into the cup at the steaming liquid. She can feel Shikamaru’s eyes on her back and Taishiro’s head resting in her lap. Yoshino sits across from her and Katsumi can see the glare she shoots at the males. Distantly, Katsumi is aware of them leaving. 

When they’re gone, Yoshino smiles sadly at her, “With time, it will get better. Whatever happens, we’re here for you. I want you to know that.”

Katsumi blinks and swallows thickly. Finally manages to speak, “He didn’t even say goodbye before he left. Now tou-San might not come back at all.”

Katsumi feels like a child again. The way she did the first time she saw her mother’s photo, but so much worse. It’s a choking, awful grief instead of the dull pain that had been. 

“I know, Katsumi. It’s a painful thing, and I wish you weren’t having to experience this. All we can do is hope he finds his way back and keep living in the meantime. But right now, feel what your feeling and when you’re ready, we’ll be here to help you pick yourself up again.” Yoshino takes one of Katsumi’s cold hands in hers and squeezes gently, “You are not alone.”

Katsumi pauses a moment before squeezing Yoshino’s hand in return. Doesn’t say anything back, though. Doesn’t know what to say. 

Eventually Taishiro and Yoshino walk her to her room. Yoshino helps her out of her clothes and into the sweatpants and oversized shirt she likes to sleep in after missions. Katsumi follows Yoshino’s instructions robotically. Crawls under the covers and curls back up into a ball again. Taishiro curls up against her back and rests his head on her side. The lights are switched off and Katsumi is left in the dark. 

“Katsumi hurt?”

Katsumi pauses before answering, “Yes, Taishiro, I’m hurting.”

“Here with Katsumi. Pack important for hurts.”

Katsumi doesn’t respond. Doesn’t have the energy too. Eventually, Shikamaru slips into the room. Taishiro’s voice is the only one that greets him. 

“Baby Alpha. Pack needs hurts helped. Come now.”

Shikamaru doesn’t complain about the ninken’s command. Just joins the pair on the bed. Puts one hand on her back like he did after she got out of the hospital post Sasuke retrieval. The night passes like that and Katsumi doesn’t sleep at all. 


	24. Chapter 24

Katsumi handles the grief the way she does everything else once she’s pulled herself out of the shock. She trains until she’s too tired to think about anything. Spars with anyone who has the time. Hyena is her main sparring partner. The ANBU is almost always ready for a fight when he’s in the village and he doesn’t hold back. Owl is another one, when he’s feeling indulgent at least. Since Stag’s death he’s withdrawn from everyone but occasionally she can convince him to spar outside of normal training. Normally ends with her tenketsu points closed though. She still hates that feeling. Sensei takes her on missions with him as often as he can. Clearly decides she needs to be out of the village and kept busy with something other than training. 

Sensei also has her expand her pack. Has her sit down and summon a new Ninken and Katsumi thinks Taishiro is going to die from excitement. He loves puppies. She ends up with a black mastiff type puppy that reminds her of a more narrowly built baby Bull. A female that ends up named Chinami. She’s loud and clumsy and chews on Katsumi’s fingers or Taishiro’s tail every chance she gets and Katsumi changes her focus from spars to training the new puppy to work with her and Taishiro. Having Taishiro to help her makes it much easier. Chinami learns to speak earlier than Taishiro did. She also uses curse words liberally and Katsumi wonders where she learned those and just decides to blame Hyena for it. She’s not even sure if Hyena is at fault for it, just decides it seems like the type of thing Hyena would cause. Chinami certainly loves the ANBU operative. So it makes sense. 

Chinami is much more of a heavy combat type than Taishiro is. More brute strength instead of speed. Less agile and less stealthy, but stupidly strong and stupidly stubborn. She grows just as fast as Taishiro did but ends up twice as bulky, twice as heavy. Katsumi quietly thinks she’s Bull’s distant cousin or something. Training her is a good distraction. 

She finally gets cleared for solo missions again by Inoichi. It takes two tries before he decides she’s within acceptable bounds and adds in a requirement that she attends real therapy at least once a month when she’s not on a mission. Katsumi can live with that. 

She’s sole squad leader for her first time not long after. A B-rank mission to clear out a gang of bandits that have been terrorizing and attacking merchants and women on a road between two remote villages in the land of Tea. Her team consists of Neji, Sakura, and an older Chuunin, a man named Itsuki who favors earth jutsu and is known for burying victims alive. Katsumi isn’t sure she likes him, but he’s reliable and doesn’t cause tension in the team, so it’s fine. 

The mission goes smoothly. Katsumi and the Ninken track the bandit camp down easily enough. It reeks of unwashed bodies. Neji counts out thirty men. Katsumi likes those odds well enough. Trusts her team to be able to handle it. Especially since Neji confirms none of the bandits have more chakra than a fresh genin. Likely some were former career genin who were disenchanted with doing menial chores for years. It happens. 

They make short work of the bandits, Neji’s gentle fist is brutal to witness and Katsumi is pleased he’s on her side. Fighting Hyuugas is unpleasant. Sakura is just as efficient and using her mokuton to fling men into the air hard enough to snap their spines from the impact. Katsumi tries to ignore the men being sucked into the ground by Itsuki. Katsumi and Taishiro and Chinami fight melee style, cutting down bandits and pushing others into the paths of her teammates. Chinami seems inordinately pleased by her first kills. Prancing on giant feet around Katsumi and Taishiro as the team disposes of the bodies. Sakura’s iryonin training has paid off, and none of the team ends up needing any healing upon returning to the village. 

For her successful first mission as squad leader, Shikaku gifts her with a new Wakizashi and katsumi is torn between glee at having a new sword and wanting to cry because her old one was given to her by Tou-San. The new sword is beautifully forged and fits her perfectly, but it’s just not the same, however much she’s grateful for it. 

Katsumi is playing shogi against Shikaku and losing badly on one of her good days when she meets Temari again. Here on a diplomatic mission to increase relations between Suna and Konoha now that Gaara, who is no longer a psycho, is Kazekage. Taishiro’s ears prick up and his eyes focus on something behind her, while Chinami stands and straightens up to demonstrate her full, well muscles size. Katsumi is too focused on trying to beat the man in front of her to notice right away. 

Shikamaru clears his throat behind her and Katsumi finally makes a move on the board before turning around to see what has her Ninken tense. 

Temari has clearly gotten prettier, in the harsh unforgiving way Suna seems to cultivate. Her hair is still held up in the four pigtails look and she has her fan on her back, but she’s dressed in black and red and Katsumi can’t supress the quiet snarl that leaves her throat instinctively. 

She hasn’t seen a Suna nin since the invasion and she can’t help the irritation at having one in her village now. Even knowing Orochimaru manipulated them into the invasion and that they’re allies again, Katsumi doesn’t like having them in her territory. 

“Katsumi, You remember Temari, I’m in charge of showing her around while she’s here. I figured you two would enjoy sparring together or something.” Shikamaru raises an eyebrow at her as she stands up to face them. 

“Temari-San! Nice to see you’ve recovered from that paralytic I used, I hadn’t tested it before then, so I was a bit worried.” Katsumi smiles at the girl, trying to force herself to get over the urge to snarl at the intrusion. Chinami and Taishiro clearly pick up on the irritation and press against her legs, heads lowered warningly and tails stiff behind them. 

Temari smirks back, “I guess your ribs must have healed well enough. I’m looking forward to beating you in a rematch, you know. You won’t get so lucky this time.”

Shikamaru mutters a troublesome under his breath as Shikaku gets upand breaks the stand off between to two Kunoichi by starting a conversation with Temari about how things are doing in Suna. Katsumi doesn’t linger to listen. Taps her dogs on the heads and walks inside the house to sharpen her swords. The last mission dulled her katana a little and Katsumi needs to fix it. 

Taishiro and Chinami lay at her feet in the privacy of her room, both still alert and clearly curious about the girl Shikamaru brought around. 

Taishiro is the one who asks, “Threat?”

Chinami’s ears prick up at that, “Chinami fuck up threats! Katsumi just say so!”

She grins a little at Chinami’s eagerness, “No, I beat her in the Chuunin exams and her village attacked ours. But they’re allies now.”

Taishiro snorts a little, “Only trust pack. Threats stay threats.”

Chinami’s tail thumps against the floor, “Stupid Outsider Female. Trespassing shitty behavior!”

“She’s not trespassing. She was invited.”

Chinami throws herself on the floor dramatically, “Outsider not friend. Not pack. Teach fucking place.”

Taishiro snaps his teeth at the other dog, “Katsumi already win. Alpha bitch over Sand smelling female. No need to keep going.”

Katsumi listens to them bicker with half an ear. She may not like having a former enemy in her village, but there’s already plenty of other things she doesn’t like that she has to deal with. This is little more than a minor annoyance in comparison. 

What Taishiro asks her next though throws her off, “Why Baby Alpha smell like her?”

“What?”

“Baby alpha smells like her and a little like breeding.”

Katsumi stares blankly at Taishiro, not sure what to say to that one. Chinami is happy to pipe up, “Outsider needs to leave. Intruding on pack. Katsumi tell pack intruder fuck off.”

Taishiro looks like he agrees, “Outsider female weaseling into Katsumi place. Need to tell her no. Remind Baby Alpha bad idea too.”

“Shikamaru can do what he likes. She’s not a threat to the pack or my position.” Katsumi isn’t even sure what position they’re referring to. 

“Baby alpha not Katsumi’s mate?” Chinami looks aghast at that. 

“No..?”

“Humans weird. Take forever to pick mate. Katsumi no mate now.” Taishiro explains it like he’s still confused on how people work. 

Katsumi’s face burns red at the conversation. This is not something she wants to discuss. Shikamaru is her oldest friend and he’s never shown interest like that. She can’t help but be embarrassed at the way the pair talk like it’s more than it is. She’s just not going to think about it. Shikamaru is free to do what or who he wants. Katsumi isn’t allowed to be bothered by it or think about it. She just wishes the Ninken would understand that. 

“That’s enough. What Shikamaru does in his free time isn’t our business.”

Taishiro clearly disagrees, “Baby Alpha business is pack business.”

Chinami yawns, “Pack business damn important. Fucking need knowing.”

“What needs knowing?” Shikamaru’s voice sounds from the door as it slides open and Katsumi can feel her face burn even redder. 

Before she can tell the dogs to shut up, Chinami is jumping on explaining, “Baby Alpha smells like breeding and Outsider.Baby Alpha business is fucking pack business.”

Taishiro ignores Katsumi’s panicked, mortified hiss to shut up, “Outsider pack intruder. Katsumi not listening.”

Shikamaru looks as mortified as Katsumi does and twice as uncomfortable, “... Breeding?”

“Humans say fucking.” Chinami explains helpfully, Dark eyes tracking every move the Nara makes. 

“What a drag. We didn’t fuck.” Shikamaru’s face clears of any confusion, though the discomfort still remains. Katsumi has no idea if he’s talking to her or Chinami. 

“Baby Alpha smells funny though. Like breeding or wants to breed and stranger female.” Taishiro’s head cocks sideways in confusion. 

“I’ve been showing her around all day. That’s why I smell like her. I don’t know what you’re talking about with the other thing.” Shikamaru looks like he regrets coming in and Katsumi is just watching in silent horrified fascination. 

Taishiro stares at him, “Breeding smell when Katsumi challenged Outsider. Why?”

“Katsumi not Baby Alpha mate. Outsider Bitch Baby Alpha mate?” Chinami eyes him with clear distaste. 

Katsumi has never seen Shikamaru look like he wanted to sink into the floor until now. His eyes flick from the dogs to Katsumi like he thinks she’ll help him. 

“No... Temari is just a colleague.”

“Why breeding smell, then?” Taishiro stands and moves towards Shikamaru to sniff at his legs and crotch curiously. 

Shikamaru practically climbs the wall in his haste to keep Taishiro from doing that, his face rapidly turning red. “I don’t know. Can we drop this? Katsumi?”

“Taishiro. Chinami. Leave him alone. Now.” Katsumi commands firmly as she puts her katana back in its sheath. This conversation is too mortifying. If only the Ninken understood that. 

When they finally back off, Shikamaru rubs the back of his head with one hand, slouching again as the dogs let up, “Uh, so I was going to ask if you wanted to help me show Temari around a little, but I think Taishiro and Chinami wouldn’t be happy with that.”

Katsumi squints a little, he still looks embarrassed, “Sorry, Shika. You’re the assigned babysitter. I have too much on my plate right now to do that. I’ll spar with her though, if that’s enough.”

Shikamaru shrugs a little, “just try not to kill her. I’ll get in trouble if you do.”

“No promises, You know I live to cause headaches.” Katsumi grins at him and tries to lighten the awkward atmosphere.

Shikamaru grins a little back, clearly able to tell what she’s trying to do, “Troublesome woman.”

Katsumi snorts a bit at that. She’s starting to think he enjoys that about her. Taishiro and Chinami certainly think so.


	25. Chapter 25

Katsumi never does get to spar with Temari. Fox gets called in for a mission the following day and she knows she’s not going to like it. She’s not supposed to be sent on any ANBU missions unless it’s in regards to the Akatsuki and she knows none of those are lined up anytime soon. Apparently the Akatsuki are working on a much lower profile since two of their members died. 

She’s right. It’s not an Akatsuki mission. It’s not even an assassination. It’s a fucking slaughter. She has no idea who signed off on the mission or why the hell Fox is being sent on it, but she is. Along with an ANBU she’s never seen before with a Mask she doesn’t recognize who introduces himself as Lion. Just the two of them. To slaughter an entire clan in some backwoods village that barely qualifies as a shinobi village. Fox has never disobeyed orders before. ANBU take orders directly from their Hokage. Disobedience is treason. Even when Fox hates the orders. 

Fox does it. Does it with numb hands and an empty chest. Doesn’t look at Lion afterwards. Doesn’t notice the way he watches her. Doesn’t notice how familiar he seems or the way he smells vaguely of ink. 

She delivers the report to the designated superior then goes to the showers to wash the blood off. Watches it flow down the drain and thinks whatever she’s becoming, she’s crossed a line she can never go back from. Fox doesn’t mourn it, but Katsumi does. Adds this mission to the pile of grief and pain and unpleasant things she keeps tucked away in her mind. 

She swipes Shikaku’s sake when she returns home late the night after the mission and drinks it until she thinks she’s going to vomit. Drinks until the smell of the sake burns her nose and makes her stomach roll. Drinks until she can’t think or feel anything clearly. Taishiro and Chinami are ordered not to say anything or do anything about it. Katsumi knows Shikaku won’t be fooled for a moment about the Sake, but she’s not allowed to discuss the mission she wasn’t even supposed to be sent on. The first mission she’s ever wanted to turn down. Katsumi has never felt dirtier, even after washing the blood off and changing. She doesn’t even know what that clan did to earn that fate, or if they did anything at all. 

Katsumi doesn’t mention it to anyone. Just goes on like nothing happened. Files it away as something not spoken of and does her best to pretend it never happened. Trains and takes missions, lots and lots of missions, like nothing happened. Shikaku clearly knows something happened but when he asks, all she can do is tap her shoulder, right over the hidden ANBU tattoo. He may be the jounin commander, but she’s not allowed to discuss her ANBU missions with anyone other than the Hokage herself. Shikaku looks concerned but nods and doesn’t push for what she can’t give. 

Katsumi doesn’t speak about it to anyone, not Sensei, not Taishiro, not Chinami, certainly not any of the Nara clan. Just continues on like she always does. By the time she’s back from her most recent mission, tracking down missing children in the land of rivers and finding only their corpses, Katsumi has turned fifteen and things take a new turn that makes her want to strangle someone. 

She’s not even back five minutes when she’s summoned to the Hokage’s office. Sensei is there when she arrives, and it’s clear something is wrong. Tsunade looks halfway between pissed and resigned and Kakashi-sensei is utterly blank. 

Tsunade stands up behind her desk, and considers them for a moment, her brown eyes hard, “As of three-eighteen this morning, Uchiha Sasuke has been confirmed to have escaped Konoha custody. The cameras were cut five minutes before the escape occurred and there no one knows how he got out. No one witnessed the escape. As of now, we’re going to keep this quiet, the only reason you’re being informed is that from now one, the pair of you will have the dubious honor of trying to find him.”

Katsumi blinks. Sasuke... escaped? With no sign of how or why or where he’s headed? Fuck. Naruto is going to lose his shit when he hears this. What a fucking mess. 

“Retrieval or execution?” Katsumi can’t surpress the shocked flinch at Sensei’s cold tone. 

“Retrieval for now. He’s not considered a nukenin as of now. You’ll be informed of that changes. Naruto is returning soon. When he does, team seven will be temporarily reformed and a new member will be added to fill the gap. Any questions?”

Katsumi has a flash of memory as a weak headache begins. A boy with pale skin and black hair and black eyes and ink stained fingers. A seal on his tongue. She thinks she can guess who her new teammate will be. 

“When will we learn who Sasuke’s replacement is?” Katsumi already knows who it’ll be. Just not when. 

“To be determined. For now, keep your silence on the matter. This defection is an S-ranked secret until further notice. When we have an idea of where he is, your mission will begin.” Tsunade pinches the bridge of her nose and closes her eyes. Adds on quickly, “If retrieval isn’t possible, execution will be necessary. Oinin Butai is currently hunting for him as well, with orders to capture and return.”

Katsumi raises an eyebrow at that. Oinin Butai isn’t known for leaving a target alive. They never do that. It’s not normal for them. Katsumi wonders if they’ve ever been given an order like that. 

“Is that all?” Kakashi-Sensei’s voice is still cold. 

“Yes. Dismissed.” Tsunade waves them away and sits back down. 

“Katsumi-chan, come along, we have training to do.” 

Katsumi follows her sensei out the window, not daring to argue when he sounds like that. They run over the roof tops, jumping from building to building with ease until they make it to the bridge outside of training ground three. Sensei leads her to the memorial stone and together they stare at it in oppressive silence. 

“What’s being asked of us is not going to be easy, pup. Will you be able to handle it?” Sensei doesn’t look at her as he speaks. 

Katsumi pauses. Thinks seriously about it and comes to an unpleasant conclusion. Only three people could have been able to help Sasuke, because he would have certainly needed help. Yakushi Kabuto, Uchiha Itachi, or Uchiha Obito. If it’s the third one, Katsumi isn’t sure how Sensei will react. Finally she responds with a simple, “As long as you can.”

Sensei places a single, gloves hand on her head and says nothing. Katsumi wonders if this hurts him more than it does her. He taught her comrades over anything, after all. But what’s the proper response to a comrade’s betrayal? Katsumi isn’t sure there’s a true answer to that. 

There’s no training that day, despite what he said earlier. Instead his hand tenses on her head a bit before he sends her home. Tells her they’ll begin tomorrow. Katsumi thinks the delay is as much for him as it is for her. 

That night, Katsumi dismisses her summons entirely for the first time. It feels odd to suddenly have the minor drain on her chakra disappear with them, but she needs to be truly alone. Needs to think. She’s been too distracted lately. She closes her eyes as she sits on her bed in meditation. Sifts through her old memories as best she can. None of them give her answer for what happens now. Sasuke gone, two years late after an impossible escape. Nothing in her memories offers her answers. She supposes that’s only right. Her memories are simply one possible future, and things have already changed. They can only offer her vague ideas of what could happen. Not what will. 

Katsumi is struck with the unnerving, blood chilling realization that her mere existence has changed things. Katsumi wonders if she’s making things better or worse for her existence. It’s an unpleasant line of thought. When she opens her eyes, she focuses on the Wakizashi in its sheath leaning on the wall near her bed. Just stares at it for awhile. Not really thinking at all. Just looking. Letting unpleasant images of what she could do pass in and out of her mind. 

Ultimately, she turns away from the sword. She has too much left to do. Too much left to fix. She has to keep moving no matter what. Sasuke is just another obstacle now. Katsumi’s always been good at removing those things. This will be no different.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the time skip is over! Thank you all so much for reading!! The next fic will be up soon so keep an eye out!! Reviews and opinions are always welcome!!!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Any Comments and feedback are extremely welcome!


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